Bolivia's preeminent fiction writer eclipses the successful English translation of American Visa with a riveting murder mystery.

"It takes a gutsy publisher like Akashic to bring the works of the Bolivian novelist Juan De Recacoechea into English. Subtle, nuanced, elegantly styled and beautifully translated by Adrian Althoff, Andean Express is a great introduction to this gifted author's work . . . It's the interchange between the characters that's at the heart of this novel. De Recacoechea has touches of the old noir masters like Jim Thompson, but the voice is uniquely his..."
--Globe and Mail (Canada)

""More Camus than mystery thriller, [Andean Express] delights like strong coffee savored in a cosmopolitan cafe."
--Publishers Weekly

"This spare, quirky book freezes an unexpected moment: forty-eight hours in the intertwined lives of a dozen beautifully realized characters aboard a moving train. Andean Express gets quietly under your skin like the almost-unnoticed rhythm of the rails."
--S.J. Rozan, author of The Shanghai Moon

"Bolivia's heir to the classic noir of Jim Thompson and Raymond Chandler, Juan de Recacoechea writes with a cold eye for the dark details. He straps you to your chair with braided tales of a simmering vengeance, a high-stakes poker showdown, and an achingly slow-cooked seduction . . . Andean Express is first-class suspense."
--Robert Arellano, author of Havana Lunar

Set in 1952, Andean Express is the story of a tragic overnight train journey that unfolds in an environment at once carnivalesque and sinister. Beginning near La Paz, Bolivia, the austere Andean plateau serves as a surreal backdrop for most of the trip before giving way to a winding descent to the Chilean coast. Ricardo Beintigoitia, a recent high school graduate from a prosperous La Paz family, unwittingly becomes ensnared in the personal drama of one of his peers, a captivating girl named Gulietta Carletti who has been forced into an arranged marriage with a man she despises.

On the Andean Express, everybody wants something and no one is exactly who he seems. Recacoechea's lean, elegant prose crackles with sharp dialogue and entertaining exchanges among a disparate cast of characters, each with his own ax to grind. The train is a microcosm of Bolivia itself, with people from all walks of life, from peasants to politicians, forming a circus of personalities and intrigue in which tragedy seems inevitable, and improbable liaisons become reality.

Juan de Recacoechea was born in La Paz, Bolivia, and worked as a journalist in Europe for almost twenty years. After returning to his native country, he helped found Bolivia's first state-run television network and dedicated himself to fiction writing. His novel American Visa won Bolivia's National Book Prize, was adapted into an award-winning film, and was translated into English and published by Akashic Books to great critical acclaim.

Adrian Althoff a freelance journalist and translator based in San Jose, California."

Praise for American Visa by Juan de Recacoechea:

"Dark and quirky, a revealing excursion to a place over which 'the gringos' to the north always loom."
--New York Times Book Review

"Harrowing and hilarious."
--Boston Globe

"Beautifully written, atmospheric, and stylish in the manner of Chandler . . . a smart, exotic crime fiction offering."
--George Pelecanos, author of The Turnaround

"The narrator of this sweet noir claims to have read Raymond Chandler, Chester Himes, Dashiell Hammett and Manuel Vazquez Montalban 'as if they were prophets,' and their presiding spirits are not far from this winning tale...An intriguing window onto a society on the fringes of globalization."
--Publishers Weekly

"A best-seller in its own country, this novel about a man desperate to get into America is one of the few Bolivian novels translated into English, and especially with the present furor about immigration, it is sure to spark interest...De Recacoechea celebrates the hybrid in ethnicity and culture, and he does it without reverence or even respect, blending absurdity with harsh realism to tell a surprising story of roots and finding home."
--Booklist

"Quite possibly Bolivia's baddest-ass book...Ironic that Juan de Recacoechea's protagonist spends all his time trying to get to America, when it is we who should be getting to Juan de Recacoechea."
--Miami Sun-Post

"The story reads like a great detective novel, filled with nail-biting twists in the plot when you least expect them...The characters are well-developed and the settings in Bolivia are painted beautifully, allowing you to immerse yourself in the town that Mario so wants to escape."
-Ink19

"American Visa is a stunning literary achievement. It is insightful and poignant, a book every thoughtful American should read, and once read, read again."
--William Heffernan, Edgar Awardwinning author of The Corsican

"In his search for an American visa, the high school teacher in this novel embodies the dreams and aspirations of many would-be immigrants south of the border. This is a thriller with a social conscience, a contemporary noir with lots of humor and flair. The streets of La Paz have never looked so alive. This is one of the best Latin American novels of the last fifteen years."
--Edmundo Paz-Soldan, author of Turing's Delirium

"Mario Alvarez is tremendous, an everyman desperate to escape Bolivia's despair who can't elude his own tricks of self-sabotage. At a time when the debate around U.S. immigration reduces many people around the world to caricatures, this singular and provocative portrait of the issue will connect with readers of all political stripes."
--Arthur Nersesian, author of The Sacrificial Circumcision of the Bronx