Gringos

Jimmy Burns is an expatriate American living in Mexico who has an uncommonly astute eye for the absurd little details that comprise your average American. For a time, Jimmy spent his days unearthing pre-Colombian artifacts. Now he makes a living doing small trucking jobs and helping out with the occasional missing person situation--whatever it takes to remain "the very picture of an American idler in Mexico, right down to the grass-green golfing trousers."

But when Jimmy's laid-back lifestyle is seriously imposed upon by a 90-pound stalker called Louise, a sudden wave of "hippies" (led by a murderous ex-con guru) in search of psychic happenings, and a group of archaeologists who are unearthing (illegally) Mayan tombs, his simple South-of-the-Border existence faces a clear and present danger.

"Gringos is Portis's subtlest, funniest, and most valuable novel for its depth of inarguable wisdom." --Wells Tower, GQ