There was a time when I never would have imagined that I'd be reading a magical realism western about a Mexican bandido, but here we are. 

The first third of the book wasn't doing it for me but then all of a sudden I was engrossed. The story is told in alternating timelines

where both POVs are encountering death in 'human' form

. The characters include likeable people, downright detestable people and those who are morally grey but are definitely more bad than good (maybe). The story has a

supernatural

element but it feels really subtly done. It has an old western feel but is mainly told from the POV of Antonio, a Mexican Bandido. The other main POV is Jaime, the grandson of Antonio, who knows nothing about his grandfather until an old book is delivered to him, detailing Antonio's past exploits. 

Antonio starts out as a character I really didn’t like and yet as the story progressed, I felt myself hoping he didn't get caught by the Rangers. Antonio is a complicated antihero, his POV is violent and dark, he

has treated people horribly (including his wife) and his brother's death directly resulted from a decision Antonio made, but then he is brought back down to earth with a crash and it was good to see him humbled

. I'd love to see artwork of Antonio

after his injury because he sounded very disfigured

and I imagine this added to the Texas Rangers hatred of him (along with him simply being Mexican, of course). Later in the story we meet Peter, who brings some light-hearted humour to a very dark story. Antonio is unsure of Peter's intentions early on but I loved the Peter and Antonio pair up immediately - possibly because of Peter's

English humour

😄👌🏻thankfully Jaime's POV is not the main POV, as I really preferred what was going on with Antonio.

The author's note informs us that the story is based on

the author's great grandfather, Antonio who was a bandido in the late 1800s

. I enjoyed the story regardless of this information but that was fascinating to me. I'd also recommend the audiobook for this book because the narrator was great.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.