Paco Muñoz-Botas’ new thriller, translated from Spanish by Matthew Hovious, follows a suave sociopath as he tries save his family bank from a takeover.

The novel begins as Àlvaro Pérez-Bolín humiliates a fellow party guest by pointing out the latter’s counterfeit watch. Later that evening, Àlvaro enjoys an even more sadistic thrill, murdering a fellow patron of the gay club The Unicorn’s Labyrinth in the middle of a sexual encounter.

Though he fancies himself invincible, Àlvaro may have met his match in Olivier Knepougel, “a French millionaire with a dubious reputation” who is determined to take over Àlvaro’s family-owned bank. But an alliance with a man from Knepougel’s past, Yves Blanchet, and an introduction to a secret society just might help Àlvaro come out on top.

Àlvaro is rich, insouciant and despicable – and immediately grabs the reader’s attention. In the novel’s initial pages, he’s potentially akin to great antiheroes like Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley. His insufferable mother, Carlota – whose life won’t be complete until she has a penthouse in New York – adds yet more irresistible dark comedy to the proceedings.

Unfortunately, the novel’s sharpness diffuses as the story becomes increasingly convoluted. The book’s slim page count simply can’t support the twists and turns involving the pasts of Blanchet, Knepougel and Knepougel’s wife (plus the wife’s drug addiction); the struggle over the bank; and the existence of the secret society. Àlvaro’s gruesome but fascinating sexual pathology, so intriguing in the book’s opening pages, more or less falls by the wayside.

The book does contain exquisite details, such as characters’ fondness for Café Serré and Dadaist poet Jacques Rigaut. And Hovious’ translation maintains a slight continental flavor while still flowing gracefully for Anglophone readers.

The Unicorn’s Labyrinth has some wonderful attributes. But to cohere as a thriller, it needs either a tighter focus or a longer page count.