The Fisher Of Hearts - Steven Jay Kessler

The Fisher of Hearts, the third book of the Mexico Trilogy, takes place in 1969, when tiny guerrilla groups were starting up in Mexico's 2,000 mile-long Sierra as fast as the army could rub them out; when hope ran rampant, and nobody knew how far students, campesinos, and/or workers would go; when Fidel’s victory in Cuba had left-wingers believing (and right-wingers fearing) that some ineffectual little guerrilla group could be the spark (el foco insurrecional) that ignited a full-scale rebellion.
Rich in romance and fascinating stories, the only thing these tiny guerrilla groups lacked (aside from decent weaponry and training) was coverage by the press, since the Mexican Army was more likely to give reporters a bullet to the back of the head than a tour of the battlefield.
Enter Jack Asher, the protagonist of Book One of The Mexico Trilogy (see Daze of Innocence on Amazon.com). Now an investigative reporter for the International Herald Express, a Paris-based English-language daily, Jack returns to Mexico to cover the country’s guerrilla groups, particularly the two that were operating in the misty mountains of Guerrero, the most rebellious state--the source of Acapulco Gold, which was changing hearts and minds in Mexico and the USA.
Thanks to his participation in the Mexican Student Movement of Summer ‘68, Jack was trusted by influential members of the radical left, including a prominent student revolutionary who has taken to the hills to join the guerrillas. While waiting for his contact in the Movement to arrange permission for him to visit the guerrillas’ mountain stronghold (and interview their charismatic leader, Lucio Cabaсas), Jack discovers that there’s a new guerrilla group operating in the highlands of Michoacбn, and it’s bigger, better-armed, and doing more damage than every group in the country combined. Neither Jack or anyone else realizes that this group is the creation of a coup-plotting Mexican general, who is planning to march on Mexico City. Dismayed at first by the arrival of a nosy investigative reporter from the First World, the general and his industrialist brother quickly come to realize how such a man--one who can get articles printed in First World newspapers--could unwittingly be made to serve their cause.
Unaware he is being used, Jack travels to a remote village in the highlands of Michoacбn and makes contact with the phony guerrilla group and its mercurial leader, Comandante Rнos. The CIA in Mexico City, which was already aware of Jack’s pending interview with Lucio Cabaсas, reads the articles Jack writes about the guerrilla group in Michoacбn, and, certain he’s onto something big, assign their beautiful access agent Ana Monteverde to milk him for information.
Enough said. A synopsis is harder to write than a novel, and a novelist who has a plot shouldn’t give it all away. Suffice it to say this is a good story, true to the Mexico of the times, which Steven Kessler knows as well as any novelist to ever tackle the subject. We follow Jack and his friends and enemies through the halls of power, the country clubs and bohemian cafйs, the charming colonial-era towns and poverty-stricken villages, and the high country where guerrillas and grizzly bears roam.
Steven Kessler was born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles. He has lived in the highlands of Guatemala, the highlands of Michoacбn, and Humboldt County, California. Books One and Two of his Mexico Trilogy are available on Amazon.com. Three more of his novels are coming soon, including Indica Summer, Sherry’s Coming Home, and The Jade King’s Tomb.

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