by Maureen Ryan
First published 2020
President Enrique Peña Nieto once basked in international acclaim as Mexico's supposed savior. Time Magazine celebrated him on their cover. Television cameras captured his victory speeches. But by his second year in office, the facade crumbles. His administration enriches itself while over 40 percent of Mexicans sink into poverty. Forty-three student protesters vanish without explanation. Cover-up attempts fail spectacularly. Then Donald Trump enters the presidential race, and Peña Nieto's world shifts further off balance. Their first meeting becomes a collision between weakness and aggression. A Mexican journalist calls it hard liquor versus Kool-Aid, with hard liquor winning decisively. Peña Nieto's approval ratings plummet below 20 percent as Trump's attacks intensify. Meanwhile, liberal challenger Andrés Manuel López Obrador gains momentum with promises to end Mexico's submission to its northern neighbor. The novel captures a president trapped between his own failures and an aggressive foreign adversary, exploring how personal weakness becomes national vulnerability.
Genres: american-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century, political-thriller
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers
Setting: Mexico
Period: 21st-century
215 pages · Paperback · Sunbury Press, Inc.