The Cleansing

When Victor Aruna's liver tissue sample shows up under the microscope of San Diego pathologist Dr. Paul Leander, the two men have not seen one another for 20 years. Paul, who met Victor—then a rich young man with an parentally arranged, unearned lawyer's degree—while in medical school in Mexico City, takes it upon himself to inform Victor that Victor has terminal cancer. Upon his hospital discharge, Victor shows up at the home of Paul and his wife, successful art director Adele Zarbo, perhaps to die (and to avoid troubles at home). Paul and Adele met through Victor in Mexico City, and the three had, for a time, formed a charged trio. But as Rabasa (Floating Kingdom ) deftly makes clear early on, the friendship is fraught and chock-full of secrets that have been on full simmer for two decades—and that may have a lot to do with Paul and Adele's present state of near-estrangement. With coolness and concision, Rabasa flashes back and forth between Victor's almost taunting visit and the months in Mexico City where the three uneasily gelled, building tension as small revelations pile up and giving vivid snapshots of mid-'80s Mexico City. The denouement is quiet rather than explosive, and it suits the scale of this winningly constrained work. (Aug.)