Shantytown

At last, a noir novel from the Argentine master of suspense and surprises

Maxi, a middle-class, directionless ox of a young man who helps the trash pickers of Buenos Aires€s shantytown, attracts the attention of a corrupt, trigger-happy policeman who will use anyone €• including two innocent teenage girls €• to break a drug ring that he believes is operating within the slum. A strange new drug, a brightly lit carousel of a slum, the kindness of strangers, gunplay... no matter how serious the subject matter, and despite Aira€s €œfascination with urban violence and the sinister underside of Latin American politics€ (The Millions), Shantytown, like all of Aira€s mesmerizing work, is filled with wonder and mad invention.