Assignment: Finding one of Argentina's 30,000 "e;Disappeared"e; ... likely outcome: Becoming one yourself.The Argentine army's "e;Dirty War"e; disappeared 30,000 people, and the last thing Pepe Carvalho wants is to investigate one of the vanished, even if that missing person is his cousin. But blood proves thicker than a fine Mendoza Cabernet Sauvignon, even for a jaded gourmand like Pepe, and so at his family's request he leaves Barcelona for Buenos Aires.What follows is perhaps Manuel Vzquez Montalbn's masterpiece: a combination white-knuckle investigation and moving psychological travelogue. Pepe quickly learns that "e;Buenos Aires is a beautiful city hell-bent on self-destruction,"e; and finds himself on a trail involving boxers and scholars, military torturers and seductive semioticians, Borges fans and cold-blooded murderers.And despite the wonders of the Tango and the country's divine cuisine, he also knows one thing: He'll have to confront the traumas of Argentina's past head on if he wants not only to find his cousin, but simply stay alive.

Assignment: Finding one of Argentina's 30,000 "e;Disappeared"e; ... likely outcome: Becoming one yourself.The Argentine army's "e;Dirty War"e; disappeared 30,000 people, and the last thing Pepe Carvalho wants is to investigate one of the vanished, even if that missing person is his cousin. But blood proves thicker than a fine Mendoza Cabernet Sauvignon, even for a jaded gourmand like Pepe, and so at his family's request he leaves Barcelona for Buenos Aires.What follows is perhaps Manuel Vzquez Montalbn's masterpiece: a combination white-knuckle investigation and moving psychological travelogue. Pepe quickly learns that "e;Buenos Aires is a beautiful city hell-bent on self-destruction,"e; and finds himself on a trail involving boxers and scholars, military torturers and seductive semioticians, Borges fans and cold-blooded murderers.And despite the wonders of the Tango and the country's divine cuisine, he also knows one thing: He'll have to confront the traumas of Argentina's past head on if he wants not only to find his cousin, but simply stay alive.