Via Ápia

The tense debut novel from Martins (after the story collection The Sun on My Head) follows a group of friends in Rocinha, the largest of Rio’s favelas, during a government crackdown in the months prior to the 2012 World Cup. At the height of the summer, Washington works tirelessly at a restaurant alongside his brother Wesley, whose dependency on cocaine spirals out of control. An intersecting narrative follows Murilo, a fellow favela resident and soldier for the military police, who has a vivid nightmare in which he slaughters his friend and roommate Douglas during a raid. After Murilo and Douglas lose their apartment due to their other roommate Biel’s erratic drug-fueled behavior, the trio find a place next door to the brothers, who encourage Douglas to follow his dream of becoming a tattoo artist. By November, the military police occupy Rocinha under the guise of the drug war. Biel, wishing he had some weed, is tormented by the roar of helicopters, while Murilo increasingly questions his role in the state-sponsored violence. Martins’s plainspoken prose takes an honest look at how drugs provide relief from boredom and oppression while offering an unsparing view into the dangers of addiction. Readers will have a tough time putting this one down. (July)