The Secret of Evil

Roberto Bolano has been hailed a giant of Latin American literature and included in this one-of-a-kind collection is everything he was working on just before his death in 2003. A North American journalist in Paris is woken at 4 a.m. by a mysterious caller with urgent information. For V. S. Naipaul, the prevalence of sodomy in Argentina is a symptom of the nation's political ills. Daniela de Montecristo (of Nazi Literature in the Americas and 2666) recounts the loss of her virginity. Arturo Belano - Bolano's alter ego - returns to Mexico City and meets a band called The Asshole of Morelos. Belano's son Geronimo disappears in Berlin during the Days of Chaos in 2005. Memories of a return to the native land. Argentine writers as gangsters. Zombie schlock as allegory . . . Opening The Secret of Evil is like being granted access to the Chilean master's personal files; it offers a final opportunity to read the work of an intense, brilliant and truly original writer.