Winner of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary AwardWinner of the Alfaguara PrizeWinner of the Gregor von Rezzori Prize''A powerful, humane novel about a man trying to make sense of a war he didn’t choose to fight'' The Times''The story is compelling but through Vásquez’s vivid prose (rendered brilliantly into English by the award-winning translator Anne McLean) it also becomes haunting … A poignant and perturbing tale about the inheritance of fear in a country scrabbling to regain its soul'' Financial TimesNo sooner does he get to know Ricardo Laverde in a seedy billiard hall in Bogotá than Antonio Yammara realises that the ex-pilot has a secret. Antonio''s fascination with his new friend''s life grows until the day Ricardo receives a mysterious, unmarked cassette.Shortly afterwards, he is shot dead on a street corner.Yammara''s investigation into what happened leads back to the early 1960s, marijuana smuggling and a time before the cocaine trade trapped Colombia in a living nightmare.