Collateral Man
Alex Ferrara & José Levy
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2003 Gráfica Andina
ISBN: 9874365633

In a new twist to the old Faust tale, the grandson of the signer of the pact must pay the Devil his due.

Martin Mondragon is a psychologist living in Manhattan, unmarried & plagued by a series of desperate clients who seem to pop up out of nowhere, at the oddest moments. It's when Joe Sagasti, the Devil's soul-collector, shows up demanding payment for Martin's Argentinian grandfather's unfulfilled contract, that things start to go haywire. As with all things devilish, there is an invested interest: if Sagasti doesn't get Martin's soul, he loses his immortality.

It's a simple enough matter, one drop of Martin's blood on an ancient document, &, voilÂ, 'tis done! Except Martin refuses to honor the agreement his grandfather signed so many years before, which thoroughly annoys Sagasti. & as we all know, the Devil's henchmen have quite a few nasty tricks up their sleeves which they can unleash when they don't get their way. & Joe Sagasti is one very good Devil's advocate. So Martin must do battle with the dark powers of Hell while keeping his soul & his sanity intact. Other than his analytical mind (& all the training he's had as a psychologist!) he sets out to learn the secret his grandfather obviously omitted to share with him: how to beat the Devil at his own game.

& then Martin finds out he's not alone. That filthy, asthmatic, hypochondriac of a new patient that's been bugging the... well... heck out of him, has some news. He's Martin's guardian angel, & he's here to help.

Collateral Man comes hot off the presses inspired by the highly acclaimed miniseries aired on Argentinian & Latin American TV as El Garante. It is fast, funny & fantastic, with lots of shape-shifting, scary twists & turns, & fascinating & ironic philosophical conundrums. It is also available in Spanish.

If you like adventure tales with exotic locations & secretive histories, lots of cerebral acrobatics & traps, then Collateral Man will keep you up into the wee hours of the night, filling your mind with strange & wonderful hallucinations & “what-ifs”.

Collateral Man is a relentless read, & while it didn't ring all my bells -- dancing with the Devil seems to be a peculiarly masculine foible -- I bet it'll ring yours!

www.CollateralMan.com
(01/16/05)

Rebecca