The Mongolian Conspiracy - Softcover

Bernal, Rafael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0811220664 ISBN 13: 9780811220668

Publisher: New Directions, 2013

Synopsis

A gripping and hilarious 1960s Mexico City noir

Only a couple of days before the state visit of the President of the United States, Filiberto García ― an impeccably groomed "gun for hire," ex-Mexican revolutionary, and classic anti-hero ― is recruited by the Mexican police to discover how much truth there might be to KGB and FBI reports of a Chinese-Mongolian plot to assassinate the Soviet and American presidents during the unveiling of a statue.

García kills various bad guys as he searches for clues in the opium dens, curio shops, and Cantonese restaurants of Mexico City’s Chinatown ― clues that appear to point not to Mongolia, but to Cuba. Yet as the bodies pile up, he begins to find traces of slimy political dealings: are local gears grinding away in these machinations of an "international incident"? Pulsating behind the smokescreen of this classic noir are fierce curses, a shockingly innocent affair,smoldering dialog, and unforgettable riffs about the meaning of life, the Mexican Revolution, women, and the best gun to use for close-range killing.

About this title

About the Authors

Rafael Bernal (1915-1972) was a Mexican diplomat and novelist, best known for his crime novels, including The Mongolian Conspiracy (New Directions).

Katherine Silver's award-winning translations include works by María Sonia Cristoff, Daniel Sada, César Aira, Julio Cortázar, Juan Carlos Onetti, and Julio Ramón Ribeyro. The author of Echo Under Story, she volunteers as an interpreter for asylum seekers.

Francisco Goldman, the author of five novels, one book of nonfiction, won the Prix Femina for his latest, Say Her Name.

Reviews

Filiberto Garcia learned his trade—killing people—as a teenager in the Mexican Revolution. Now (sometime after the Kennedy assassination), he’s 60 and still killing people—for the Mexico City police. It seems the Russians have warned the U.S. of an assassination plot against the U.S. president on a visit to Mexico City. The Russians say the plot was hatched in China. Filiberto is assigned to work with Russian and American spooks to stop it. While the Cold War adversaries warily measure each other, Filiberto begins to rattle cages in Chinatown, even as he pursues Marta, a beautiful young Chinese woman. His cage rattling immediately produces “stiffs.” His efforts to bed Marta turn unexpectedly, uncharacteristically, and humorously chivalrous. Bernal published this noir in Mexico in 1969, presaging Paco Ignacio Taibo’s Héctor Belascoarán Shayne and Ken Bruen’s tormented ex-Garda, Jack Taylor. The usually dyspeptic Filiberto narrates, and his angry screeds about, well, almost everything recall Taylor’s anguished and funny rants. His ideas also reflect Shayne’s indictments of Mexican government corruption and repression. International-crime fans will enjoy this one. --Thomas Gaughan

Edition details

• Publisher: New Directions
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0811220664
• ISBN 13: 9780811220668
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192