A treacherous odyssey through Mexico riddled with violence, war, faith, and growth
In a drought-laden California, a jumble of men are flung into a rescue mission for one of their daughters, kidnapped by a drug lord in Mexico, in El Señor by David Wall.
Ivan Scarlett’s life is completely torn apart when he is fired from his construction job. Not that he had much of a life to begin with. His wife took off with their children years ago, leaving Ivan to wallow in his self-destructive obsession with making it in the film industry. But losing his job was just the beginning.
Clemente is a hardworking man. Ivan doesn’t know too much about him aside from his dedication to being a good worker. When Ivan drops Clemente off at his house after their last day of work, Ivan can tell something isn’t right. An expensive black car is in the driveway, out of place amongst the modest homes. And as Ivan drives away, he tells himself that the popping sound he’s driving away from is simply firecrackers, right?
The next day, Clemente comes knocking at Ivan’s. His daughter has become involved with a young man with a fancy car, who is part of a drug cartel. As Ivan had driven away the night before, the young man had held a gun to Clemente’s head. Clemente prayed the young man would die. And at the end of that prayer a mountain lion appeared, mauling and murdering the young man, his gun firing on his way down.
Ivan is yanked into Clemente’s world as they discover Clemente’s daughter has been kidnapped and his wife has been murdered. And because they’ve managed to make it on the news, they’ve become wanted men in this whole situation. Clemente is determined to traverse to Mexico and rescue his daughter, no matter what it takes, and Ivan has no choice but to join him. Especially when another prayer from Clemente sics Ivan’s dog, Stella, onto an intruder, leaving them with a body to deal with in Ivan’s own home.
“It was after midnight on a Sunday morning in May, and instead of a plane to Boston, instead of running after my wife – ex-wife, I should say – and begging her not to marry a chubby baked beans magnate, I was headed for Mexico by way of Nogales with a fugitive dog and three men, one of whom could sleep, one of who could cry and cook, and one who could run and speak in the tongue of beasts. I’d never felt so utterly lost in my whole life.”
Various characters from Ivan’s life join the ragtag mission. Marcus, his ex-brother-in-law turned survivalist, and his friend Coach, an ex-special forces operative, provide a range of weapons and knowledge that will aid them. Davey Jones, Ivan’s childhood best friend, clad in a Hawaiian shirt and flip-flops brings his nonchalant personality and willingness to do anything. And Hans, Davey’s younger friend, who can “cry and cook,” invites himself because why not?
Through their journey to and across Mexico, there is immense violence, strange encounters, and miracles, but also moments of humor, togetherness, and thoughtfulness. The men are always carried exactly where they need to be, as if led by some mystical force. From an odd little hotel in the middle of nowhere to a secret orphanage in the desert all the way to canyon cliffs, El Señor will lure you in and keep you reading through action-packed fights, riveting characters, and a captivatingly mysterious plot.
“‘Do you think we’ll make it back? Home?’
He didn’t answer right away.
‘Perhaps not all of us,’ he said finally.
I had a bad feeling he was right.”
El Señor is a gritty chronicle of an unusual rescue mission headed by unique characters, but also a story of the men’s unanticipated growth through adverse and unprecedented conditions. Every character in El Señor is individual and fascinating in their own ways. They’re all laid bare in their journey and written in a way that draws you into each one, getting to know their quirks and their histories, providing a grander context to each of their actions and behaviors.
El Señor feels slow and meandering in the beginning, but that doesn’t stop the story from being highly intriguing. The entire novel is a slow crescendo and culminates together in the grand finale of the novel. And the finale is just that: grand. Wall writes with a pace that allows a gradual unveiling, the tone shifting alongside Ivan’s shift in perspective, from believing himself to be inconsequential to finding boldness and faith in himself and others.
With biblical undertones, El Señor is truly an epic odyssey. It’s a novel that sounds simple in theory, but is much more complex in practice. If you enjoy violent, yet not too graphic, action, a story that thrusts you right alongside the characters, and vivid prose, pick this up.
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