JUAN GABRIEL VASQUEZ
In the city of Bogotá, Antonio Yammara reads an article about a hippo that had escaped from a derelict zoo once owned by legendary Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. The article transports Antonio back to when the war between Escobars Medellín cartel and government forces played out violently in Colombias streets and in the skies above. Back then, Antonio witnessed a friends murder, an event that haunts him still. As he investigates, he discovers the many ways in which his own life and his friends family have been shaped by his countrys recent violent past. His journey leads him all the way back to the 1960s and a world on the brink of change: a time before narco-trafficking trapped a whole generation in a living nightmare.