Nothing better can happen to a croissant than to be covered by a slice of good butter. Despite having risen as early as
1pm, Pablo Jose Miralles, aka Balu the bear, is quite capable of such thoughtful reflections, until these are interrupted by the phone. His older
brother, the First, who runs their father's company, wants to see him in his office. Pablo is asked to find the owner of a specific house in Barcelona and, as the advance payment appears to cover alcohol, food and joints for the next few days, he accepts and starts his search the same afternoon. Initially he is happy to locate the building, thinking that he has ample time to complete the commission, but then his life starts to go off the rails. The First calls to tell him that his father was hit by a car and asks Balu to visit his parents the
following day. He also asks him to stop the barely started investigation, which is untypical in the extreme. The brothers agree to meet the following day, but on the following day the First has disappeared. The First's wife asks Balu to find her husband, and Balu soon realises that she knows a lot more about this than he thought. He convinces her to call in a professional detective, but as this doesn't mean he cannot take a hand himself, his brother's wife offers him his brother's car and credit card to use during the search. While these items come in handy to finance his customary vices, there is no peace for Pablo. He encounters mysterious accidents, strange internet documents, unusual happenings in the house whose owner Pablo was meant to find. He gains uncommon insights into his older brother's life and has to deal with a chase and finally an arrest. And despite all these excitements, wide stretches of the book deal with the hero's vices, sex and drugs. Anyone who wants to find out what is the best thing to happen to a croissant, and what may happen to a mid-thirties dropout with philosophical tendencies should really read this book.