The Fine Young Men of Mexico

ANOTHER FINE NOVEL FROM ENVELOPEBOOKS Gallo left México when he was twenty-five and never looked back. Pushing fifty, he now returns for a reunion with his old school friends in Mérida, and finds they've barely moved on from the dysfunctional no-hopers they were in the past. In the course of an alcohol-fuelled weekend marked by insults and endearments, he's forced to confront exactly what it is about each of them that has held them back. Beset by boasts, challenges and sentimental wallowing, he also has to fit in as one of the boys while retaining his self-respect. The Fine Young Men of Mexico is the literary equivalent of a buddy movie, with flash cars and drug drops, an ill-judged boat trip, the parading of juvenile excess and the badly timed arrival of a wife. Gallo also gets killed - or doesn't: it's hard to tell.  At the same time, the book is a disturbing but darkly humorous contemplation on the corrosive effects of crime and violence in a city once considered Mexico's last refuge from the corruption that has destroyed the rest of the country.