‘Mr. Hooligan,’ new novel by Belizean author and Shamus Award Winner

Belizean American novelist, Ian Vasquez, published Lonesome Point in 2009 and In the Heat in 2008, and both novels received rave reviews.  He won the Shamus Award for In the Heat, and he intends to bring more attention to Belize through his next novel Mr. Hooligan which is scheduled to be released on December seventh. News Five spoke via phone to the author from his office at the St. Petersburg Times in Florida about his latest journey in crime fiction.

Via Phone: Ian Vasquez, Author of Mr. Hooligan

“The book is about a Belizean drug runner who just opened a bar in Belize but is trying to get out of the life of hustling and crime. He is just about to get out of it when some events occur and he finds out that he might have been betrayed and so he is pulled back into this life at the same time he is proposed also to his girlfriend to marry. So it about someone trying to live a new life, but matters are complicated and it’s also about Belize at large and some of the corruption that happens in Belize. So there is a subpart of corrupt government officials and D.E.A. agents and all that. So it is definitely a crime novel with some more elements.”

Jose Sanchez

ian vasquez

“Are you sure this is a work of fiction? It sounds like a regular week here in Belize.”

Via Phone: Ian Vasquez

“[Laughs] Definitely events inspired it and I guess you can say events of any developing nation. Just about every country has something like that. So far I’m getting editorial reviews from publisher’s weekly and they really like the novel.”

The Publisher’s weekly’s review said “Vasquez has crafted a crime novel that unfolds like a Greek tragedy with his flawed, unbowed hero bravely facing everything fate throws at him.” The novel, as well as the book review in Men’s Health Magazine’s January edition, will both be available for sale at James Brodies.