Collateral Man

by Alex Ferrara, José Levy

Collateral Man is already a landmark in Argentine fiction. From its beginning as a miniseries during the nineties up to its more recent novelization in English, it has turned into a cult object. And the reason is that the story is captivating and leaves an indelible mark in the reader. The psychological wrestle between Martin Mondragon and Joe Sagasti, the two main characters of the story, is a tour de force during which you'll feel identified either with one or the other. Or with both at the same time...
p
Maybe that's the greatest achievement of the novel: to confuse the reader by making him dive into a dark and dense "fog" inside which good and evil are no longer clearly distinguishable and where it is possible to share the suffering of every character. But don't mistake my words: Collateral Man is a fast-reading, attractive and captivating novel, and so well written that you can't put it down. The authors know how to play with the character's personalities in such a way that our perception of them is modified as we go on reading.
p
The story is like playing cat and mouse, a permanent game of perceptions and concepts such as guilt, responsibility and family bonds, which transcends Mondragon and Sagasti to end up nesting inside each reader.
p
The fans of good suspense and smart psychological thrillers will greatly enjoy this novel, as it does not run short of effects when necessary but -a rare case in modern narrative- it does not underestimate the reader who will be thankful for it. Collateral Man has traveled beyond its original borders, both in format as in language, and very probably it won't be the last time we'll hear from it, thank God (or the Devil).

336 pages, Paperback

First published November 14, 2003

Reviews

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was better than I expected it to be. I wonder if less emphasis on the Latino aspect would encourage more non-Latinos to read it. There's hardly any Spanish in it and it takes place in NYC. And that's the really weird thing about this book. It takes place in NYC at the end of August/beginning of September....2001. I kept waiting for IT, especially since the book is about a henchman of the Devil who seems to have been present at other historical moments where terrible things are happening. I kept thinking that was where it was heading, but it's not even mentioned! The epilogue does mention that it's Tuesday and the weather is beautiful, but that's it. It ends without incident. Very strange. But the story was good, a little creepy, not too scary. I liked it.

[Gaston Garrido · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una historia quizas parecida a otras, pero bastante entretenida. Intensa de principio a fin. Un final muy bueno.

[Alex Ferrara]

I wrote this novel originally in English twenty years ago, based on a successful Argentine TV mini-series. Later on, producer José Levy hired me to translate my own work to Spanish so it could be distributed in Argentina, where the original story by the Borezstein brothers was so well-known. It is rewarding to see the book is on the site shelves.

[Allyssa Bloomfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is nice to have a more developed story than those 8 episodes!!
The end? Well...