The MAN WITH THE SUNLIGHT SPEAR — Maynard Allington

The real life conspiracy to assassinate Leon Trotsky in Mexico in 1940 provides the backdrop for this novel of sexual betrayal and self-discovery.

Quentin Fender, an American poet whose reputation rests on a single epic poem, has lived the last two decades in Mexico City and written nothing. At forty-five, Fender has never grown up. He lives off the charity of a Yaqui mistress, drinks too much in the cantinas, and carries the relics of serial brawling on his face and knuckles. But his stature as a socialist poet has given him access to the heavily guarded villa of Leon Trotsky in Coyoacan.

Karen Rivers, a young American communist, has joined the conspirators. Her role is to seduce Fender, use him to gain access to Trotsky's villa, then provide details of the interior defenses to the raiders. By pure chance, after they have become lovers at a seaside bungalow, Fender stumbles onto the assassination plot. Held prisoner by the raiders, he's given the choice to join them or be killed. What occurs when he refuses to betray Trotsky, and escapes, carries the story to its riveting climax.

At the heart of THE MAN WITH THE SUNLIGHT SPEAR is the relationship between a young woman and older man, and the emotional complications in both their lives that arise from the sexual deception at the heart of their affair. Quentin Fender's discovery, too late, of the lost opportunities at the center of his life drives the theme of this offbeat novel.