A young Spanish engineer is assigned to Ciudad Juarez, in North of Mexico, to assist in the mining works of his company. The ordeal would not have great peculiarity if it were not for the fact that it takes place during the convulsed times of the bloody revolution prevailing in that country. It is Pancho Villa himself who commands his troops to confront the federal army stationed there and thus gain control of a key post for his armed movement.

Curiosity overcomes Martin Garrett Ortiz, the protagonist of the story, who upon hearing the roar of the shots, leaves his hotel to wander down the street in the middle of a hostile environment in which the shots between both sides come and go.

For an inexplicable reason that throughout the novel is often questioned by friends and foes, Martin decides to make his extensive experience in handling explosives available to Villa’s troops. This is how the revolutionary troops manage to get valuable booty after blowing up a bank vault, and achieve decisive victories after this unexpected support from the Spanish miner.

As is his custom, Perez-Reverte’s story is a source of great literary delight. I admire how the author of “The Queen of the South”, “The Club Dumas” and so many other iconic works of fiction, is so accurate in handling the mixture of dialogues in Castilian Spanish of the characters from Spain, with the Mexican jargon from the North of Mexico from the times of the revolution.

Fascinating, as it is the case of Perez-Reverte’s novels! Do you already have it on your list of books to read?

Ernesto Martinez
President of the Nación Libro