THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Peru's foremost author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010 lives in London. Here is a thrilling tale of desire and Peruvian corruption swirling around a scandalous exposé that leads to murder. The Nobel Laureate has written a politically charged detective novel weaving through the underbelly of Peruvian privilege. During Alberto Fujimori's turbulent presidency in 1990s Lima, two wealthy couples find themselves embroiled in a disturbing vortex of political sabotage and erotic betrayals. One day Enrique, a high-profile businessman, receives a visit from Rolando Garro, the editor of a notorious magazine that specializes in salacious exposés. Garro presents Enrique with lewd pictures from an old business trip and demands that he invest in the magazine. Enrique refuses, and the next day the pictures are on the front page. While fielding the explosive scandal, his wife suddenly begins a passionate, secret affair with his lawyer and best friend. When Garro shows up murdered, the two couples are thrown into a whirlwind of navigating Peru's unspoken laws and customs, while the staff of the magazine embark on their greatest revelation yet. Ironic and sensual, provocative and redemptive, the novel swirls into the kind of restless realism that has Vargas Llosa's signature style. The novel is a scathing indictment of Fujimori's regime that evokes the vulgarity of freedom in a corrupt system. A twisting and unpredictable tale mixing pulpy dialogue and even pulpier characters and seedy tabloid journalists. 244pp, paperback.