Carlos Fuentes

"Vlad" is Vlad the Impaler, of course, whose mythic cruelty was an inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula. In this sly sequel, Vlad really is undead: dispossessed after centuries of mayhem by Eastern European wars and rampant blood shortages. More than a postmodern riff on "the vampire craze," Vlad is also an anatomy of the Mexican bourgeoisie, as well as our culture's ways of dealing with death. For-as in Dracula-Vlad has need of both a lawyer and...

The severed head of Josuãe Nadal, floating in the Pacific Ocean off the shore of Mexico, remembers his life, his friends, enemies, and lovers, and his involvement in the drug trade and the corruption frequently encountered in his country.