Crocodilopolis

From the author of national bestseller Where There Was Fire comes a gripping tale of sibling rivalry, family secrets, and the fate of a nation.

"A darkly intoxicating novel, at once mythic and wickedly contemporary...Here is a writer in full command of his world, delivering a ferocious meditation on masculinity, legacy, and national myth through an audacious, unforgettable book." -- Ocean Vuong, the New York Times bestselling author of The Emperor of Gladness and On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

Once a powerful, cold-blooded politician in Costa Rica, Seth Oreamundo is now living in exile in Washington, DC - and his younger brother Osario is to blame. Born into a corrupt political dynasty and raised on a seemingly idyllic coffee estate, the Oreamundo brothers were destined for greatness. But a dark family secret and a scandalous double crossing sent their lives into a tailspin, changing the country forever.

Osario must pay, and Seth decides the only way to do so is to return home to Costa Rica and feed his brother to the infamous river of crocodiles from their childhood. What follows is a spellbinding story of revenge alternating between Seth's murderous plans and memories of the brothers' upbringing. With the wisdom of biblical myth and the soapy wit of a telenovela, Crocodilopolis is a masterful interrogation of power, masculinity, destiny, and legacy from a literary star on the rise. 

John Manuel Arias is a queer, Costa Rican American poet and writer and author of the national bestselling novel Where There Was Fire. A Canto Mundo fellow and an alumnus of the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop, his work has been published in the Kenyon Review, PANK, the Rumpus, and Akashic Books. He has lived in Washington D.C.; Brooklyn, New York; and in San José, Costa Rica with his grandmother and four ghosts.