Author: Ian Vasquez

Title: Mr. Hooligan

Publisher: Minotaur Books

As the old priest lay on his hospital death bed in Belize, his close friend, a retired nun, begins a story that is half confessional and only half played out. Father Roger Hunter quizzes Sister Patricia if her tale begins "Once upon a time." Her answer alerts readers that the words on the pages to the right will not be the most light-hearted fare.

"All the best stories begin that way, but not all of them end ‘happily ever after.' Maybe not even this one," she tells him.

Sister Patricia, in the shelter of the dying priest's room, pours out secrets that have eaten her insides like the pancreatic cancer that has nearly finished with Father Roger. She has, for years, carried the suffering of one of the young boys, Riley James, that attended the Catholic school where she served. Riley was a poor but bright and ambitious lad. Although he didn't learn to embrace Sister Patricia's religion, her faith in him kept bringing the two of them together through the years.

Riley, known as ‘Li'l Hooligan' when he was young, had a drunk for a mother and a smuggler for a father; thus he had very few options to escape the old, clapboard house by the river where he was raised. Running errands for the Monsanto brothers, some of the shadiest characters in Belize City, was a job he excelled in because of his knowledge of the coastal waters and the back, rural roads. His life in crime became more complicated when a run-in with a corrupted official evolved into a situation where the Monsanto family had to cover up for him.

Now after twenty years of working off his debt to these mobsters, Riley wants to make a clean and honest break. He has a son of his own, who he wants to have a better life, and he has fallen in love with a woman who he doesn't want to drag down. Riley has a few more options for making an honest living; he is part owner of a popular bar in the city and also takes tourists on local boat excursions. The Monsanto brothers, not thrilled with the prospect of losing such a valuable player, enlist Riley for one last, dangerous job that supposedly will even things out between them once and for all.

Each character in Mr. Hooligan, the title of this classic noir tale, has their own motivations that further complicate Riley's journey, including his best friend and business partner, Harvey Longsworth, and the new love of his life, Candice, the beautiful, American woman who lives next door to him.

Ian Vasquez, in his third novel, paints a bright, lush, Belize landscape and then quickly fills in all the shadows of this morality play with ever-darkening colors. His writing is well paced, pleasantly descriptive, and has smart dialogue that makes the readers care about the cast, even when there isn't much to like about them.

Vasquez's characters all wrestle with what will bring them peace—some pursue money, some power and control, others pursue love interests. Their biggest problem is that their pursuits clash with each other and take them in sinister directions, never gaining any ground. As Vasquez describes in one scene, "As soon as he had reached within a few feet of the grassy bank, stroking hard, exhausted, a cold, swift current would turn him slantways, far, farther away… the river tugging him back to the deep spot he'd started from."

 Mr. Hooligan is as pleasant of a read as a tragedy can be.

*This Review First Published 2/18/2011