Poor Player
Actor Jack Hall quits his hot career in L.A. to work for human rights. Arriving in Mexico City, he’s heading south in more ways than one. Who will Jack take with him?
Jack Hall is the star of a hit TV show filmed in Los Angeles. But his growing fame isn’t enough, and Jack walks away from all the glitter to work for human rights.
In a novel set during the 1980s, Jack intends to work in the war zones of Central America for a human rights group headed by his sister Peggy. But the cautious Peggy sends her brother to Mexico City first to learn Spanish. She asks for help from journalist Hugh Bruce, a long-time Latin America hand. When Jack arrives, both he and Hugh get far more than they bargained for—and far less than they want.
Settling temporarily in the Mexican capital, Jack quickly meets Hugh’s assistant, Maru Campagna. Maru’s life has been shattered by the death of her father, and she’s trying to reinvent herself in ways her family disapproves. When she falls into a relationship with Jack, Maru’s uncle schemes for a quick marriage to the well-connected foreigner. But Maru isn’t sure if she wants it, and Jack has no intention of getting married. He’s off to fight for human rights.
At least he will be soon.
Hugh Bruce is both the witness and narrator of Jack’s quixotic quest. He’s also friends with another foreigner who owns a resort in the hot-spring zone north of Mexico City. Wayne Gibbings is a former L.A. restauranteur who moved south for profit, not ideals. But his hotel is failing, located too near a mountainous area where long-time ranchers have found a lucrative new crop, growing marijuana back in the hills while clearing peasant farmers off their land. Rumour speaks of a massacre.
When Jack arrives at the hotel, he finds himself in the middle of a hair-trigger human rights case. Idealistic and unprepared, he tries to help, with disastrous consequences.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, they say. Who will Jack take with him?
