John LeCarre. Absolute Friends. 2003.

The best English language book in the Zihuatenejo supermarket turned out to be surprisingly good.

300 pages of exposition are sufficient to establish the two friends’ compressed left-wing confusion, after Hitler and the rise and fall of the Soviet Union. But this red paperback is unflinchingly anti-Bush II, even though it bears the endorsement of the New York Times Bestseller List and the gringos of Guerrero. John LeCarre is sharp, energetic, compassionate, and right about Bush II. A beautiful man, if his thrillers are an indication.

Too bad the left-wings are killed for the war on terrorism. Hey, I may have just spoiled the ending but the first 300 pages are exposition anyway. It was a great story that just needed a thousand more pages in which the good guys win.