Hydra Head, The
by: Fuentes, Carlos

Hardcover. New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1st, 1978, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 292 pages. Translated from Spanish by Margaret Sayers Peden. Black cloth, gilt lettering to spine. Mylar cover. Light wear to dust jacket, else like new. Released as a translated to English novel in 1978 as a follow up to the monster epic historical fantasy "Terra Nostra," Fuentes displays his versatile written skills with adept perception. This is a captivating spy novel that features many characters but focuses on Felix Maldonado who is a low level Mexican bureaucrat. Maldonado is portrayed as a sort of everyman who suddenly finds himself thrust into bigger than life circumstances. On a day when the president of Mexico is making an appearance Maldonado, who was looking forward to the day suddenly finds himself being involved unvoluntarily into an assassination plot. He is declared dead and given a new identity, a sly bit of writting to create another faceless citizen of Mexico. From here the novel takes off into twists and turns to unravel the mystery and Maldonados and others role in the assassination attempt.