A thrilling and exhilarating exploration of U.S. politics in Central America from Joan Didion, the hugely acclaimed author of the year of magical thinking. It is 1984. Journalist Elena McMahon, watching her evasive, gruff father's life ebbing away before her, clutches at understanding him to grasp little more than air. But harder, keener forces impel her to do his bidding, to go naked into a 'situation' in Central America, because 'things were hotting up again'.