Pedro Juan Gutiérrez Book order

Pedro Juan Gutieacute;rrez's bestselling novel, Dirty Havana Trilogy, was hugely acclaimed for its honest depiction of a Cuban capital characterized by sleaze, sex, poverty and hedonism. In The Insatiable Spider Man we see the return of its anti-hero, who is again prowling the streets of Havana. Pedro Juan's relationship with his wife, Julia, is in terminal decline. He can no longer bear kissing her on the mouth and the trappings of domestic bliss hold no charms for this most restless and predatory of men. Our narrator's interests lie elsewhere: in the infinite possibilities of a chaotic Caribbean city and many chancers, artists and prostitutes who roam the streets in search of fresh experience. Pedro Juan Gutieacute;rrez again takes the reader on a journey into the underbelly of contemporary Havana - a world of easy sex, hard drinking and humorous anecdotes, that will be all too recognizable to the Gutieacute;rrez connoisseur.

Publication of Dirty Havana Trilogy, Gutierrez's first novel to be translated into English, catapulted him into the front rank of internationally renowned Latin American authors. Tropical Animal sees the return of the already infamous Pedro Juan, the protagonist at the heart of the first novel. Pursued by Gloria, a proud and sophisticated prostitute on a mission to curb his predatory instincts, Pedro Juan is holed-up in his crumbling Havana apartment, painting, with a growing sense of melancholy as he observes the lives of the hustlers, hipsters and hookers in the city below him. An invitation to Sweden, of all places - cold, unwelcoming, the very antithesis of Pedro's Cuba - seems to offer him a way out, and the seductive phone manner of Agneta proves persuasive enough for him to leave for Europe. However, he soon finds himself haunted by memories of Gloria and their wild sex together, and increasingly uninspired by his new environment. Does Pedro Juan, legendary sexual conquistador and imbiber of hard liquor and substances, finally have to admit that the game is over? Or do his hedonistic instincts have juice enough to keep him active yet?