He dies for Ana, Gabriel’s wife, knowing we cannot walk away from people’s screams forever.
He dies for Anapra, and for Juárez.
He dies for Mexico, for America.
He dies for his half-sister and his son. He dies for everyone. He dies for the world.
But does he die for these things?
Is it a noble death, a meaningful sacrifice, one to make us recall our dark-cave promises? Will statues be erected in his honor, will the gods themselves bow down and say, There goes Arturo; Arturo the King?
Or does he die for nothing?
This book is inspired by the writings of: Charles Bowden, Noam Chomsky, John Dodson, Sigmund Freud, Cynthia Gorney, Anne Huffschmid, Carl Jung, Claudio Lomnitz, Karl Marx, Sonia Nazario, Octavio Paz, and Arthur Schnitzler.
I would like to thank Gaby Silva-Rivero and Sergio Camacho for their invaluable help.
ALSO BY MARCUS SEDGWICK
Blood Red, Snow White
The Ghosts of Heaven
Midwinterblood
Revolver
She Is Not Invisible
White Crow
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marcus Sedgwick was born and raised in Kent in South East England, but now lives in the French Alps. His books have won and been shortlisted for many awards; most notably, he has been shortlisted for Britain’s Carnegie Medal six times, has received two Printz Honors, for Revolver and Ghosts of Heaven, and in 2013 won the Printz Award for Midwinterblood. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraph
The River
Anapra
Isla de Sacrificios
La Hora de la Hora
Faustino Rides the Beast
Insatiable Gods
Voices
A Visit to the House of Death
On the Couch
La Civilización y Sus Descontentos
First Game
Calavera
Second Game
Ground Zero
The Deliverer
Arturo’s Dream
Death and the Idea of Mexico
The Analysis of the Ego
Dios Está Aquí
Five Is the Bridge
The Primal Killing
Santa Muerte
Stateless
Eva
Visitors
Unbehagen
Bewegung
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 by Marcus Sedgwick
Published by Roaring Brook Press
Roaring Brook Press is a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010
fiercereads.com
First published in the United Kingdom in 2016 by Orion Children’s Books, London
All rights reserved
Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress
eISBN 9781626725508
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First hardcover edition, 2016
First American hardcover edition, 2017
eBook edition, April 2017