Paradais

Set in a gated residential community called Paradais on the Gulf coast of Mexico, the novel unfolds as a sustained narration from the perspective of Polo, a teenage gardener who plans to tell the authorities that everything was the fault of Franco Andrade, an overweight teenager he calls "fatboy." Through Polo's retrospective account, the story traces how two misfit teenagers' drinking sessions beside a river escalated into catastrophe.

Polo's duties at Paradais far exceed his gardening contract. Urquiza, the development's manager, forces him to wash his personal car, clean the pool area after parties, and perform every menial task imaginable, all while withholding overtime pay. Polo's mother, who has worked for the same real estate company for decades, secured the job for him after he flunked out of school. She collects his entire salary to cover household debts and berates him each morning: "Who the hell do you think you are?" (36).

Polo's home life in Progreso, the impoverished town across the Jamapa River, is suffocating. He sleeps on a petate, a thin woven mat, on the living room floor, having surrendered his bed to his cousin Zorayda, who came from the town of Mina to care for Polo's ailing grandfather but stayed after the old man's death. Zorayda is now visibly pregnant, and the identity of the father is a source of dread for Polo. During a childhood visit to Mina, the older Zorayda initiated a sexualized game with him; when she moved to Progreso, she resumed her provocations until Polo began forcing himself on her. Though he insists he always pulled out, Zorayda radiates smug confidence, holding the power to destroy him by telling his mother. Polo's dead grandfather haunts him as a symbol of lost possibility. A self-taught carpenter who promised to teach Polo to build a boat, the old man represents a self-sufficiency Polo fantasizes about constantly. His mother sold the grandfather's handmade tools once the old man was bedridden with dementia, an act Polo considers the theft of his inheritance.

Franco Andrade, the teenage grandson of elderly Paradais residents, becomes obsessed with Señora Marián Maroño the day she drives a white Grand Cherokee SUV into the development in late May. She is the wife of a bald, short television personality, and the couple has two sons: the teenager Andy and the younger Micky. Señora Marián is striking, with a magnetic presence that draws the attention of half the residents. Franco engineers proximity to her: washing his grandparents' car whenever she is outside, appearing at the pool when she sunbathes, and befriending her children to earn invitations to the Maroño home. His sexual fantasies about her grow increasingly elaborate and violent. Expelled from school, Franco faces the threat of military academy at summer's end.

Polo and Franco first meet at Micky's birthday party in June. Polo, forced to stay late cleaning up, escapes to a wooden dock by the river and finds Franco sitting alone, upset after being bullied by other children. Franco offers Polo stolen whisky in exchange for a cigarette, and they drain the bottle together. Franco confides his belief that Señora Marián returns his feelings. Polo finds the delusions absurd but says nothing.

Their drinking sessions become nightly. Franco hides money in the flowerbeds for Polo to buy rum, beer, and cigarettes. To reach the dock after hours, Polo must cross an abandoned lot containing a crumbling mansion tied to the legend of the Bloody Countess, a colonial-era woman said to have tortured enslaved men and been killed by locals, whose ghost reportedly haunts the ruins. Polo's real motivation for enduring Franco's company is to delay returning home, where his mother berates him and Zorayda torments him.

Woven into Polo's account is the story of his older cousin Milton, his closest friend, who was abducted by cartel operatives after a cross-border stolen vehicle run. Rather than killing Milton, the operation's young female boss gave him one chance to prove himself; his initiation culminated in executing a kidnapped taxi driver. When Milton later visited Polo, he was transformed: gaunt, sleepless, and preachy about honest work despite his cartel-funded lifestyle. Polo fixates on Milton as his escape route, imagining that delivering stolen goods from the Maroño house will earn him a place in the organization.

The plan takes shape gradually. After Franco is caught drunk and the dock becomes too risky, he moves their sessions into the entrance hall of the Bloody Countess mansion and reveals he has been breaking into the Maroños' empty house on Sundays through the always-unlocked kitchen door. He has stolen Señora Marián's underwear, which he proudly displays. Polo breaks his usual silence, calling the theft pathetic when the house contains jewelry, watches, and electronics. Franco escalates: He declares that since Señora Marián will never consent, he will take her by force. When Polo points out that she and her husband would identify him, Franco proposes killing them all and staging the scene to resemble a narco-related break-in. He produces his grandfather's Glock 19 and outlines a plan: enter through the kitchen door late on a Sunday night when the lax guard Rosalío is on duty, restrain the family, allow Franco to rape Señora Marián while Polo loots the house, load the stolen goods into the Grand Cherokee, and escape through the automatic residents' gate.

In the days before the break-in, Polo calls Milton one last time; Milton again refuses to help. On Saturday night, Polo drinks with Rosalío and confirms the development's security cameras cannot identify faces. On Sunday, Franco drives to a Walmart where they purchase duct tape, flashlights, black clothing, and dark women's tights to serve as masks. Franco, sporting a black eye and splinted finger from a beating by his visiting father, appears eerily calm. Polo hides in the car's trunk to enter the development undetected, then waits in a bathroom in the Andrades' garage until three in the morning.

The break-in unfolds in fragmented, almost dissociative images. They enter through the kitchen door in the rain, wearing tights over their faces. They restrain Andy in his ground-floor bedroom, then find Micky upstairs with his parents. Maroño confronts them on the landing, offering everything he owns. Franco orders Polo to take Micky downstairs, insisting the children "can't know" what will happen. Señora Marián recognizes them through their masks but releases her son after Polo promises to care for him. Franco shoots Maroño in the head. Polo tapes Micky beside his brother, covers both boys' faces, and retreats to drink from Maroño's bar.

Franco, struggling with impotence, attempts to assault Señora Marián while Polo hauls stolen goods to the Grand Cherokee. A roar breaks the silence: Señora Marián appears at the top of the stairs, naked and covered in blood, holding Franco's combat knife. Franco fires from the stairwell, and she tumbles to the ground floor and dies. Franco collapses against Polo, blood frothing from knife wounds in his back, and dies slumped against the steering wheel of the SUV.

Polo flees into the rain and dives into the Jamapa River, convinced that ghosts cannot cross water. The current drags him toward the estuary, and he spends most of the night clinging to water hyacinths before dragging himself home. He has lost everything: his shoes, his phone, and the stolen jewelry.

His mother wakes him and beats him for drinking. He cycles to Paradais on Zorayda's yellow bicycle, eyes crusted with infection, and is greeted normally by the day guard. Urquiza orders him to sweep storm debris. Polo watches residents leave for work until his knees buckle at the sight of Griselda, the Maroños' maid, hurrying toward house number seven, the only home with its security lights still on. Polo feels a fleeting urge to run but remains, clinging to the conviction of his innocence. He resolves to tell the police it was all Franco Andrade's fault, that he only followed orders, and that all he ever wanted was freedom, his finally articulated life goal. Polo himself raises the boom barrier when the police cars arrive with their sirens off.