The second book of De Bernières' Latin American trilogy, following on from The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts and preceding The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman. Dionisio Vivo, a young South American lecturer in philosophy, is puzzled by the hideously mutilated corpses that keep turning up outside his front door. Satire? Fantasy? Allegory? Humour? Perhaps all of these at once.