Chapter 6 Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Chapter 6 opens with Mario sitting in a bar, enduring the ranting of a drunk man from Guanajuato who is furious about the beating his brother Emilio suffered in Florida. The man buys Mario drinks and vows bloody revenge, crossing himself and praying between threats. Mario, who has been waiting for Brian for over an hour, listens while reflecting on his own past. He recalls his father, who claimed he was fleeing the devil, and who disappeared when Mario was six; years later his mother learned his father had been found mutilated in a garage. Mario's mother, a Puerto Rican woman who moved to Florida for college, fell into addiction through a drug dealer, and eventually returned to Puerto Rico with Mario before leaving again. Mario remembers his mother's belief in education as a way out, a promise that proved hollow as she ended up a junkie on a sofa, claiming to hear angels.

While waiting, Mario checks Melisa's social media, remembering their happier times together. He also thinks about the four men he has killed for Brian in recent months, men he considers bad or guilty. Brian finally arrives and tells Mario they need to go to his home to meet someone about a large job that could set them up for life. Before leaving, Mario goes to the bathroom, where a dark-skinned man with a thick Yoruba accent offers him toiletries and warns him to be careful, calling him