The Past Pursues Us Like Detectives, Debt Collectors, Thieves

JP, the protagonist, returns to his hometown in Mexico after many years abroad, leaving behind a peaceful life. He comes back to help his siblings care for his parents, who are now elderly. What should have been a brief visit becomes the visit from hell, and JP is a murder suspect. A photo of a bullet circulates, and everyone seems determined to offer him pills of dubious origin: could they be melatonin, tranquilizers, amphetamines, poison?

Weaving outright hilarity with wry tenderness, Villalobos tells of the changes time has wrought on the family, friends, and town the protagonist once knew.

The trip home from hell: everything that can go wrong will go wrong when the protagonist, who emigrated, returns to Mexico.