Dengue Boy : 'Smart, funny and brutal' Mariana Enriquez

An Irish Independent book to catch your imagination in 2025

'A psychedelic fever dream' Esquire most anticipated book of 2025

'A wildly original anti-capitalist satire' Guardian

'A rip-roaring satire of late capitalism and humanity's unerring instinct for self-sabotage' Irish Times

'An incandescent imagination' Valeria Luiselli

The year is 2272. New York and Buenos Aires were submerged years ago and the Patagonian archipelagos are the only habitable lands on Earth.

Here, Dengue Boy is a humanoid mosquito whose monstrous appearance repulses everyone, including his own mother. As the world spirals to its end, Dengue Boy searches for the meaning of his life and his true origins.

Elsewhere, adults exploit the value of pandemics on the Stock Exchange and waste the last of Earth's resources, while their privileged children plug into virtual realities and stream violent video games.

For readers of China Miéville, Samanta Schweblin and Mariana Enríquez, with joyful, savage flair, Dengue Boy blends body horror and cyberpunk to deliver an extraordinary portrait of a demented future.

Translated from Spanish by Rahul Bery