Mirador: a novel

Nate Hunter has no desire to visit Chiapas, Mexico. It’s 1993, dawn of the Internet Age, and his star as a brilliant computer engineer is on the rise. He wants to stay put, focus on work. But his wife, Sarah, a dedicated nurse, wants to save the world. Invited to join a mission trip to the village of Mirador, deep in the Lacandon Jungle, she decides she’s going, and Nate won’t let her go alone. He knows the looming enactment of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is causing unrest among the campesinos and the government is cracking down on protests. The pastor leading the trip insists it’s safe, but beneath the surface calm, rebellion is brewing, and an army of peasants calling themselves Zapatistas is preparing for war.

By the time the group reaches Mirador, Nate realizes the trip is a mistake. That evening, Sarah tangles with the leader of a paramilitary group, triggering events that lead Nate deeper into the jungle, to a secret rebel camp, where unforgiving tests and a newfound sense of purpose challenge everything he believes about himself as a husband, lover, fighter, and man.

Honoring the spirit of the ancient Maya and the war against forgetting still being waged by los indigenas today, Mirador tells the story of one man’s reckoning with love and loss, friendship and betrayal, courage and cowardice, death and rebirth, as he helps a group of rebels prepare for the Zapatista uprising of January 1, 1994: the first war fought on the ground and the World Wide Web.

Suspense, appealing characters and interesting historical events create a compelling story that is an engrossing page-turner. – Sara Orwig, USA Today bestselling romance author of The Forbidden Texan and The Rancher’s Heir

An exquisitely written, gripping tale of love, obsession and revenge. James Jennings has created memorable characters who pop off the page. You can taste, feel and see the rural Mexican locations where a class war rages, evil thrives and brutal acts are a daily event. Once you pick this book up you’ll have a tough time putting it down. – Charles Salzberg, author of the award-winning Second Story Man and the Shamus Award-nominated Henry Swann series

Great tale! Jennings has a terrific feel for how ordinary Americans get in over their heads and how good intentions can lead to bad outcomes. The mountains, the jungles, the people of Chiapas are all beautifully rendered in a captivating saga that makes the little-known story of Mexico’s Zapatista uprising come alive. This one will stay with you. – Ross Klavan, author of Schmuck and the Independent Spirit Award-nominated screenplay for Tigerland

Mirador, the remarkable new novel from James Jennings, traces the development of the first ‘internet revolution’ in Chiapas through the intersection of a group of American missionaries and EZLN insurgents. It’s a big story with the narrative dynamics of Robert Stone’s A Flag for Sunrise, the historical complications of Gina Apostol’s Insurrecto, and the persuasive local detail of Netflix’s Narcos: Mexico. Jennings adds a significant voice to American letters. – Tim Tomlinson, author most recently of This Is Not Happening to You, a collection of short stories