"Tobar succeeds in bringing into focus both the civil turmoil that racks Guatemala and the inner turmoil that can consume people anywhere." –People
"Suspenseful...Tobar has a fine storyteller's instinct and moves his characters towards the climax with the skill of a chess master." –
Los Angeles Times "[
The Tattooed Soldier] casts a subtle light on the Third World terror which lies behind the faces of people on the pavements and in the parks of Los Angeles....Dazzling." –
Thomas Keneally "Héctor Tobar's accomplished first novel affords a perspective that is overdue and urgently needed in North American literature–an insider's vision of L.A. as a Third World city.
The Tattooed Soldier is a riveting book that manages to be at once politically informed and at the same time a psychologically astute study of that most elemental of stories: revenge." –
Stuart Dybek