The Mastermind

Based on a true, ripped-from-the-headlines story, The Mastermind is a voyage into the noir heart of present-day Guatemala.

“The Mastermind teems with the pulse of daily life in the tropics: the sights and sounds, the smells and tastes. He takes millionaires, whores, provocateurs, hit men, bankers with deep pockets, and political agendas, and weaves them into a dazzling tapestry. What befalls those driven by hubris―the writing on the wall, a fall from the heights to the depths―are part of the pattern, the biblical tales of warning, the consequences that cannot be avoided . . . Unger is the poet of his complicated homeland . . . How fortunate we are that when Unger speaks for them, his words soar.” ―American Book Review

By all appearances, Guillermo Rosensweig is the epitome of success. He is a member of the Guatemalan elite, runs a successful law practice, has a wife and kids and a string of gorgeous lovers. Then one day he crosses paths with Maryam, a Lebanese beauty with whom he falls desperately in love . . . to the point that when he loses her, he sees no other option than to orchestrate his own death.

The Mastermind is based on the bizarre real-life story of Rodrigo Rosenberg, a Guatemalan attorney who, in 2009, planned his own assassination after leaving behind a video accusing Guatemalan president Álvaro Colom of his murder. (In April 2011, the New Yorker published an article by David Grann about Rosenberg which has been optioned by Matt Damon for his directorial debut.) This is a fascinating depiction of modern-day Guatemala and the corrupt, criminal, and threatening reality that permeates its society.

David Unger, recipient of Guatemala’s Miguel Ángel Asturias National Literature Prize for lifetime achievement, is a poet, translator, novelist, and essayist. He has translated eighteen titles to date, including his acclaimed re-translation of Guatemalan Nobelist Miguel Ángel Asturias’s Mr. President (Penguin Classics, 2022), The Popol Vuh, and books by Enrique Lihn, Nicanor Parra, Rigoberta Menchú, and Silvia Molina, among others. His most recent novel is In My Eyes, You Are Beautiful (Mosaic Press, 2023).