2666 (2004) is a novel by Chilean author Roberto Bolaño, published one year after Bolaño's death. Centering around a reclusive German author and his role in investigating the ongoing unsolved murders in the fictional city of Santa Teresa, Mexico, 2666 jumps in location, narrative style, location, and characters over its five sections. The novel is widely acclaimed and was adapted into stage plays three times. The New York Times Book Review ranked 2666 as the sixth-best book of the 21st century, and the novel won the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction.

This guide uses the 2009 Picador edition, translated into English by Natasha Wimmer.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide feature depictions of sexual assault, rape, murder, child abuse, death by suicide, and mental health conditions.

Plot Summary

2666 is divided into five parts, with each part relating to the unsolved murders of over 300 largely young, poor Mexican women. The story is told through different characters and settings. The first segment, “The Part About the Critics,” focuses on a quartet of European literary critics—the French Jean-Claude Pelletier; the Italian Piero Morini; the Spanish Manuel Espinoza; and the only woman in the group, the British Liz Norton. The critics built their careers around the works of reclusive German author Benno von Archimboldi. They travel the world searching for him, hoping to learn more about his life. This leads them to his elderly publisher, Mrs. Bubis, whom they probe for information. At a seminary in Toulouse, France, they meet Rodolfo Alatorre, a Mexican man who says he has a friend named El Credo who met Archimboldi in Mexico City. The author was said to be heading to Santa Teresa. The critics head to Mexico but fail to find the elusive author. Romantic entanglements between Norton and her companions complicate the trip, with Norton eventually deciding that she loves Morini.

The second part, “The Part About Amalfitano,” centers on Óscar Amalfitano, a Chilean professor of philosophy who teaches in Barcelona, Spain. He takes a new position at the University of Santa Teresa with his adult daughter, Rosa. Amalfitano is a single parent, having raised Rosa on his own. Her mother, Lola, left home to search for a poet in a mental healthcare facility before contracting AIDS. As Rosa explores her new hometown, reports of the brutal murders of women spread around the city, and Amalfitano becomes increasingly concerned that his daughter is not safe.

“The Part About Fate” is narrated by Oscar Fate, an American journalist from New York who works for a Black-centric magazine in Harlem. Fate is sent to Santa Teresa to cover a boxing match, even though he has little experience with sports coverage. At the fight, he meets a Mexican journalist named Chucho Flores, who tells him about the murders. Oscar asks his newspaper if he can write an article on the murders, but his editors are not interested. He meets with a journalist named Guadalupe, who is covering the murders. Guadalupe promises to get Fate an interview with the main suspect, Klaus Haas. He learns that Haas is a German immigrant who became a US citizen before moving to Santa Teresa. Chucho introduces Amalfitano to Rosa and, after a close call with criminals in Santa Teresa, Amalfitano pays Fate to take Rosa to the US, where she will be safer. Before they depart, Rosa and Fate accompany Guadalupe to interview Haas in prison.

“The Part About the Crimes” focuses specifically on the murders of 112 women in Santa Teresa between 1993 and 1997. The narrative spotlights these women’s lives before their deaths, the mostly incompetent investigation by the police, and detailed descriptions and likely causes of the various murders. The central character is Juan de Dios Martinez, a police detective. Martinez is having an affair with Elvira Campo, an older woman who runs a mental healthcare facility. Martinez is investigating the case of a man who keeps urinating in churches while also investigating the case of Klaus Haas, the primary suspect in the murders. However, the story is complicated when Haas calls a press conference and accuses Daniel Uribe, the son of a powerful businessman, of the murders.

The final part of 2666, “The Part About Archimboldi,” reveals that the mysterious writer Archimboldi is a man named Hans Reiter, born in Prussia in 1920. Originally a soldier from a small German village who served in World War II, he eventually became a prominent, Nobel-Prize-nominated author. His publisher, Mrs. Bubis, is Baroness von Zumpe, a wealthy woman whose mother employed Archimboldi’s mother as a cleaner. Archimboldi spent much time with the Baroness’s cousin, Hugo Halder, who taught him about the art of writing. Archimboldi and the Baroness reunited in Romania after World War II. There, they had an affair that started their lifelong partnership. The novel ends by introducing the reader to Lotte, Archimboldi’s sister, the mother of Klaus Haas. As such, Archimboldi is the chief suspect’s uncle.