In Evil Hour

This is Marquez’s 1962 debut. It has all the ingredients of his later masterworks: freak weather adding fuel to collective fears about impending doom and violence. Corrupt local law enforcement, magical thinking and ugly dreams. It is situated in Colombia in the 1950s during 17 days of a hot, sleep-depriving rainy season in a village surrounded by mountains, supplied by ship twice weekly. The rich live in brick houses, the poor in huts, some so light they can be moved manually to higher ground.
Marquez endows the village with a magical past: a colonel Aureliano Buendía is said to have spent one night on the veranda of what later became a hotel, around which the village congealed. [True fans know that the colonel and family will re-appear in later novels.]
Then written accusations appear on villagers’ doors. Early in the book, this leads to a swift murder. Poor, archconservative priest Angel (61) has been the village's moral guide for 19 years: only one unwed couple still lives in disgrace, compared to nine (9) when he arrived. But does he really matter?

The village mayor is an army lieutenant who enforces the state of emergency on behalf of the ruling junta 3 three released murderers as reserve policemen. He is the real mover and shaker and is becoming increasingly corrupt. He has long kept his trio of killers under wraps, locked up their uniforms and guns. They lived and sat in their underpants in the police station, while 3 real policemen maintained law and order. Until the day when the mayor feels threatened…
Wonderful story about suffering or resisting oppression and violence with a colorful cast of characters: the dentist, the doctor, the barber, the penniless, incorruptible estate manager Carmichael with his 11 children in different colors. Pure magic.