"Leopard in the Sun" was a real treat, and I think magic realist fiction enthusiasts will enjoy it. After reading the first sentence on the dust jacket, I couldn't wait to devour this one: "Imagine the Sicilian history of The Godfather rewritten by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, or West Side Story reinterpreted by Isabel Allende, and you have a sense of Laura Restrepo's unforgettable novel of the making of Colombia's drug cartels." I couldn't have said it better myself. Likewise, since Gabriel Garcia Marquez is my favorite author and was once followed closely in that lineup by Isabel Allende (before her two most recent, weak novels were published), I am happy to report that this book does deliver what it promises. I did, however, find the interspersed "hearsay" sections of the story in italics a bit frustrating. For me, they interrupted the flow of the narrative and interfered with the effect of enchantment, the whole reason I read and love magic realist fiction. However, I understand what Restrepo was going for, because there is always more than one explanation for the magical and strange happenings in good magic realist fiction, and these sections tend to show the warring Barragans and the Monsalves almost as folk heros or villains to the townspeople who make up these choruses of praise or condemnation, but I still thought this was a bit forced. Nonetheless, this novel was delightful in its strange beauty, heartbreak, and humor that at times had me laughing raucously out loud. What I wonder is why it wasn't better publicized to magic realist readers, not just the Spanish speaking ones. It was first published in 1999, but I had heard nothing about it until recently, and that was by accidentally stumbling upon it here on Goodreads. Restrepo's "Leopard in the Sun" was everything Juan Gabriel Vasquez's "The Sound of Things Falling" should have been but wasn't. I highly recommend it.