Human Solutions

by Avi Silberstein

Chile, 1988. The Human Solutions team (a detective, a psychologist, and an actor) work together to engineer social situations to help their clients with anything they might need - until a case leaves one of them tangled in a cult run by an ex-Nazi with torturous ties to the Pinochet dictatorship.

To most people, Javier Gonzalez is an ordinary man. If you were to ask him, he would tell you that he runs an acting studio in Santiago, Chile, which is the truth, but not the whole story. Only a handful of people know that Javier also runs an unusual sort of business. With the help of a team of actors, Javier engineers social situations that meet the unique needs of his clients. If you want your boss to like you, he can help; if you want the weatherman to fall in love with you, he can arrange it. He calls his business Human Solutions, and that is exactly what he provides.

And he is good. Javier's manipulations never fail because he controls every moment of every interaction - he is precise, observant and emotionally ruthless —and this has served him well. But then one day he slips. He falls for a woman, and against his better judgment, and the council of his associates, Javier takes on her case - a case he would never touch under ordinary circumstances. The woman's name is Elena, and her son is locked behind the well-armed walls of a cult masquerading as an educational institution. She wants him out, so Javier agrees to go in.

Once behind the walls of the compound, Javier meets a man who is running a larger-scale social manipulation than he ever thought possible. The man is Peter Wenzel—or Uncle Peter, as he insists on being called—and as the charismatic leader of the cult he deftly manipulates his followers through a complicated system of fear, deception and brutality. Uncle Peter is an ex-Nazi, expelled from Germany for molesting children, and his ties with General Pinochet—Chile's barbarous dictator—are extensive and terrifying. He is a man with no conscience or fear—and Javier quickly realizes that he may have met his match.

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Genres: Fiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2014

About the author

Avi Silberstein was born in Chile in 1982. His debut novel, Human Solutions, was published in 2014. He is a librarian in British Columbia, Canada.

Reviews

[AdiTurbo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A powerful novel about the dangers of manipulating people. The novel's protagonist is a man who makes a living manipulating people for the benefit of his clients. He has been deeply hurt in the past and since then has been treating people in a totally instrumental way. But then one client's problem leads him to put himself in one of the most dangerous situations thinkable and there he is exposed to the horrors caused by taking manipulation of people to its very extreme.
The story is loosely based on the historical case of Communa Dignidad, a sort of concentration camp established in Chile in the 1970s by a runaway Nazi who received the full support of Chile's dictator Pinochet because he helped torture and dispose of Pinochet's dissidents in his camp. This is one of those stories you find hard to believe really happened, but it did. In fact, the camp operated till the mid-'80s. After Pinochet died it was turned into a kind of village, where a mysterious cult still lives, although claiming to keep away from its past roots and terrible history.
The novel isn't perfectly written, but is engaging and eye-opening, and kept me turning page after page, holding my breath and hoping for the best turnout for the characters.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

📚📚
✨Human Solutions by Avi Silberstein✨

It was sooooooo incrediblely good! From the first page it pulled you in and it was really impossible to put down. I like how Jaiver was so confident in himself and gives off that dependable vibe and having such amazing friends he could depend on. It was truly a satisfying read from beginning till the end.

Rating:5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Genre:Dark, Detective, Psychology

Recommend: Yes!! Definitely read this book.

[Dna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the premise and the first half of the book, but the dark scenes of child abuse by a cult leader was too much in the second half. I read to the end with my eyes half-closed. Would've been a pretty good book without the overkill. I'm picking some middle-of-the-road stinkers this month, eh!?

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this! It was a cross between a fairy tale and a history lesson. An acting teacher in Chile uses his skills and his students to solve simple human problems and major human injustices in incredibly brave and creative ways. The story is not all successes and glory, but enough goodness happens that only the.most hard-hearted person will not be warmed.

[Zara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing. Although it's quite short and I would be interested to know other Human Solutions clients' stories on the first half of the book just to build how intelligent the character of Javier is. This book kept me til 4AM on a weekday!!

[Scentof.Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like reading a middle age man's diary for the first half of the book. But it gets interesting from there until the end. A little disappointing that the MC didn't ended up with the first woman, but he does get his own happy ending.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book, the protagonist is a very analytical, controlling, and organized person, who devotes minimal time to description or unnecessary details, and that style suits me just fine in this kind of novel. The story is a fictional account of a disturbingly real situation in 1980s Chile, and gives us a fascinating glimpse into the lives of a fanatical settlement run more like a penal colony. I liked many of the main characters, and the way Javier interacted with all of them was at times both entertaining and suspenseful. I think the book had the right mixture of build-up and release of tension. If there are any negatives, I think the book pulls a lot of its punches, giving it a PG-13 feeling in a setting that could have been portrayed in disturbing vividness. But that veil over the worst humanity has to offer allows us to take more comfort out of the examples of humanity at its best in the novel. Reading about Javier's company, I couldn't help but want to know of all the other ways he'd helped engineer solutions for his clients -- I wonder if some of his cases might not make a good short story collection someday?

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A word, a gesture, a nudge, or even a chicken and an electric fence can be just what you need to make an angry boss stop harassing a put-upon book, a weatherman fall in love with a woman with a crush, or even rescue a boy from a madman. Javier Gonzalez and his company specialize in providing the necessary manipulation in Avi Silberstein’s Human Solutions. Javier works with actors, a psychologist, and a private detective to arrange things for their clients. They never go too far, because that would be ridiculously foolish in Pinochet’s Chile in the mid-1980s...

Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from Edelweiss for review consideration.

[Jennifer G · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of the book and the first few chapters really intrigued me. The main character has a business called "human solutions" where he solves any type of problem. For example, if you want the weatherman to fall in love with you, he will set it up. The main character ends up trying to get a girlfriend's son back from a cult. It was interesting, but just didn't quite grab me the way I thought it would.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book through Goodreads. Very enjoyable story. It kept me engaged from page 1. The concept of the book is the very intriguing "Human Solutions" which is the name of protagonist Javier's business where he can arrange anyone's wishes (for the right price) through manipulation of people to arrive at the desired outcome. Now, he infiltrates a cult to rescue a young boy for his mother during Pinochet's regime in Chile in the late 1980's. Four stars!

[chi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't realize it was a short read but it was also a page turner for me, I finished reading it in 3 hours. I enjoyed reading it and the pacing of the story was just right for me, it felt compacted in a way that was still easy enough to follow. I liked the characters, especially the librarian 🥲 I wish it was a bit longer and delve into some stuff a little more.

[Deacon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this one....really took me for a ride!