Discreet Hero

"In the star-studded world of the Latin American novel, Mario Vargas Llosa is a supernova." --Raymond Sokolov, The Wall Street Journal

"[A] singular all-star performance . . . that proves that the Peruvian master is still at the top of his narrative game . . . The Discreet Hero is an exquisite concoction, a delicious melodrama of sex and betrayal, love and revenge. But what technique is needed! While real television soap operas are shaggy and plodding, Vargas Llosa's novel is swift, seamless and as structurally symmetrical as a diamond." --Marcela Valdes, The Washington Post

"Often funny; you turn the pages with relish; it offers plenty to think about and admire. . . . [The Discreet Hero] immerses you in the way you hope any novel will immerse you."--Francisco Goldman, The New York Times Book Review

"Simultaneously exotic and familiar in the way that all great literature seems to be. Its ease is that of a mastery playing at his craft, using danger, fear, evil, and empathy to carry the reader along. . . . Mario Vargas Llosa knows exactly what he's doing."--Los Angeles Times

"The Discreet Hero, [is] an energetic book with a more straightforward narrative method than almost any other Vargas Llosa . . . [the book] is most memorable for its optimism . . . and for the way in which Don Rigoberto is forced away from his etchings and phonograph records and into the 'sordid warp and woof' of the world he has scorned." --Thomas Mallon, The New Yorker

"Irresistible . . . Father-and-son conflict is the theme that connects the two story lines and ensures an unbreakable connection between this fabulously arresting novel and the fortunate reader who steps into its pages. Vargas Llosa [is] a soaring storyteller." --Booklist

"Lyrical and witty . . . A vivid tale of fathers and sons, rich and poor, this novel gives the world another reason to celebrate Vargas Llosa." --Publishers Weekly