The Past Pursues Us Like Detectives, Debt Collectors, Thieves - by Juan Pablo Villalobos (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Too many craft beers and one crappy punch later, the trip that was supposed to be a dutiful family visit spirals into a baffling whirlwind of murder, pills and fraud.

After many peaceful years abroad, JP has returned home to Mexico to visit family and help care for his elderly mother. Instead, however, he finds himself at a bar, his fist inches from the face of Everardo, his sort-of childhood friend. He lands the blow and runs home. But when Everardo turns up dead the next morning, JP soon finds himself blamed for a murder he didn't commit, at least probably. What's going on? Can Lagos really be more full of drugs, extortion, and fraud than when he left? Why is everyone offering him pills? How's he ever going to pay for his mother's medical treatment? It wasn't even that good a punch!

Weaving outright hilarity with wry tenderness, The Past Pursues Us is a fast-paced and funny whodunit that lovingly speaks to the stories we tell ourselves about home: about what changes, what doesn't, and what should.

Review Quotes

Praise for The Past Pursues Us Like Detectives, Debt Collectors, Thieves:

"What an achievement. What seems like a light narrative becomes a reflection on how arriving home is already a form of leaving." --El Periódico

Praise for Villalobos:

"An eccentric hybrid, combining pulpy crime fiction . . . with avant-garde archness. Villalobos's take is refreshingly exuberant." --Houman Barekat, The Guardian

"A postmodern thriller and intellectual satire that fizzes with verbal gusto and black humour." --Max Liu, The i

"A wild-eyed, motor-powered, hilarious blast about kidnapping, gangsters and political corruption." --Jane Graham, Big Issue

"So propulsive it's nearly impossible to stop reading . . . This is a hilarious novel, and it's brilliant and bittersweet, too, in surprising ways. Pitch-perfect from start to finish." --Kirkus, starred review

"Down the Rabbit Hole is a miniature high-speed experiment with perspective . . . a deliberate, wild attack on the conventions of literature." --Adam Thirlwell

About the Author

Juan Pablo Villalobos was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1973. He studied marketing and Spanish literature before working as a market researcher as well as writing travel stories and literary and film criticism. He has researched topics as diverse as the influence of the avant-garde on the work of César Aira and the flexibility of pipelines for electrical installations. His books include his Guardian First Book Award-shortlisted debut Down the Rabbit Hole, as well as Quesadillas, I'll Sell You a Dog, I Don't Expect Anyone to Believe Me and The Invasion of the Spirit People.

Daniel Hahn lives in the UK and translates from Portuguese, Spanish and French. His translations have won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award and been shortlisted for the Booker International Prize.