For almost 80% of part three you are wondering where on earth the book is going and what the connection is to part one and two. Then the penny drops and you start to appreciate the scale of the ambition here.
What is starting to come clear is that the hunt for the German novelist was important but more so was the location that he was last seen in. A god forsaken Mexican town full of immigrant poor workers is not only the scene of the German author’s last known appearance but something a great deal more sinister.
More than 200 women have been murdered in the town in the last decade and it is the murders that have been in the background in part one and two that start to come to the fore. The character of Oscar Fate is used to reinforce thru sense of unreality that exists in the town.
The black political journalist is sent to cover a boxing match and even as an outsider to both the sport and the country he picks up the sense of strangeness that hides real danger. It makes the town seem strangely like a larger version of the world David Lynch created in twin Peaks with a fair amount of the Mexican danger painted by Cormac McCarthy thrown in.
Part IV next - a long one but with some sort of end in sight an important one to tackle…
