Rattlesnake

Set in '80s Guatemala, this suspenseful spy story succeeds as a thriller, as a love story, and as an indictment of human rights violations in that troubled country. Tom Wright is a CIA agent who has been sent to Guatemala to rescue Mr. Gray, an Australian banker who has allegedly been abducted by the EGP, a guerilla organization. Wright must work with the Guatemalan government to achieve his objective, but he must also survive a personal conflict, in the form of Sandra Herrera, the first love of his life, who has married into one of Guatemala's most powerful and wealthy families. When she drops into his life again, he loses his equilibrium and exposes himself to a host of dangers. A mysterious woman with murky motives and multiple connections (to the oligarchy, to the military, to the EGP, to the international drug trade, and to Wright himself), Sandra Herrera comes to embody the impenetrable contradictions of Guatemalan politics and society.

Arturo Arias is director of Latin American studies at the University of Redlands. Co-writer for the screenplay for the film "El Norte" (1984), his most recent novel in English is titled "After the Bombs" (Curbstone Press, 1990). Author of six novels in Spanish -- "Despues de las bombas" (1979), "Itzam Na" (1981), "Jaguar en Llamas" (1989), "Los Caminos de Paxil" (1991) "Cascabel" (1998), and "Sopa de Caracol" (2002) -- he is also widely known for his literary criticism.

Translator Sean Higgins was born in New York in 1961 and has traveled extensively in Latin America. He has translated many works of Latin American literature for magazines and anthologies in the U.S. Currently he is a bilingual resource teacher at Grant Elementary School inthe San Jose Unified School District.

Translator Jill Robbins is an associate professor of contemporary Spanish literature and culture at the University of California-Irvine.