Convinced that he possesses Spider-Man’s powers, Pedro Pérez, an honest and impoverished police officer, declares war on the corruption suffocating his city. But he soon discovers that taking on gangsters, politicians, and real-life criminals is far more complicated than defeating supervillains. With sharp humor and biting social commentary, I Am the Spider was awarded Mexico’s National Crime Novel Prize.
That morning, Pedro Pérez, a good-natured, scrawny, low-ranking police officer, was convinced that the worst thing that could happen to him was another argument with his wife, María Juana, over his obsession with comic books. Honest to a fault and completely lacking political or financial ambition, his superiors constantly assign him to administrative duties.
But his life takes an unexpected turn when he suffers an accident and hits his head. From that moment on, his perception of reality begins to unravel, and Pedro becomes convinced that he has superpowers. Believing himself to be none other than Spider-Man, he decides to become a superhero and save his city from the corruption and crime consuming it.
What could possibly go wrong when a man loses his grip on reality and decides to confront a rotten society dressed in a red-and-blue spandex suit? Most likely, everything.
Behind those in power lies a complex criminal network made up of members of the military, the state police, and congress. Among its key figures are “The King,” a congressman connected to the mafia; “The Rhino,” a state police officer and Pedro’s childhood friend; “Venom,” his main ally; “Jameson,” a military officer who has threatened Pedro and his wife; and other characters known as “The Goblin,” “The Lizard,” and “The Vulture.”
When the organization discovers that Pedro has accidentally stumbled upon a shipment of cocaine and marijuana, which he initially mistook for his beloved María Juana and hid in a warehouse, they decide to kidnap his wife and demand the drugs as ransom.
Meanwhile, the governor maintains deals with the mafia to finance his political campaign. In return, “The King” is allowed to continue trafficking and murdering with complete impunity. In a world where corruption permeates every layer of power, Pedro realizes that, no matter how much he believes himself to be a superhero, he cannot defeat those responsible or fully dismantle the criminal machinery that governs his country. Yet amid the chaos, he does manage to discover the identities hidden behind the masks of the true villains.
RELEVANT INFORMATION: I Am the Spider received the National Crime Novel Prize of Mexico, an accolade that established Carlos Padilla as one of the leading voices in contemporary Latin American crime fiction.
A multiple recipient of the Sonoran Book Award in the categories of novel, chronicle, and essay, Padilla is also the founder of SoNoir, a cultural movement dedicated to promoting and advancing crime and noir literature in Mexico.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:
“With Juan Gabriel as the ‘background soundtrack’ and several popular songs woven throughout the narrative, the author brings his storytelling voice from imagination to the page. Energized by his journalistic training, he succeeds in capturing the reader’s attention, ‘pulling them into the ring and making them feel the blows,’ in this case, blows delivered through humor.” Wradio.com
AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series, Limited Series, Feature Film, TV Movie.
AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish.
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