CrocoDilopolis is a gripping tale of sibling rivalry, family secrets, and the fate of a nation.
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In This Spotlight On CrocoDilopolis
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About CrocoDilopolis
Once a powerful, cold-blooded politician in Costa Rica, Seth Oreamundo is now living in exile in Washington, D.C.—and his younger brother Osario is to blame. Born into a corrupt political dynasty and raised on a seemingly idyllic coffee estate, the Oreamundo brothers were destined for greatness. But a dark family secret and a scandalous double crossing sent their lives into a tailspin, changing the country forever.
Osario must pay, and Seth decides the only way to do so is to return home to Costa Rica with the goal of feeding his brother to the infamous river crocodiles of their childhood. What follows is a spellbinding story of revenge alternating between Seth’s murderous plans and memories of the brothers’ upbringing. With the wisdom of biblical myth and the soapy wit of a telenovela, Crocodilopolis is a masterful interrogation of power, masculinity, destiny, and legacy from a literary star on the rise.
The crowd-pleasing sophomore novel from a writer on the rise: John’s first novel, Where There Was Fire (Flatiron, 2023) was blurbed by heavy-hitters like Xochitl Gonzalez, Jenny Tinghui Zhan, Cleyvis Natera and sold 17k copies across formats. Crocodilopolis will appeal to those same readers, and Bloomsbury has the opportunity to break John out into an even wider audience by tapping into his strong literary network which include authors such as Justin Torres, Namwali Serpell, RO Kwon, Ocean Vuong, Angie Cruz, Marlon James, Kaveh Akbar, and Alexander Chee.
Propulsive, mesmerizing writing, Crocodilopolis is an engaging exploration of archetypes (e.g. the exiled prince, sibling rivalry, and the anti-hero) that interrogates whether people have the power to escape the roles they are seemingly cast into at birth.
For fans of Real Americans and Anita de Monte Laughs Last, Crocodilopolis is a riveting and propulsive multigenerational tale about family, privilege, and power that will appeal to readers of Rachel Khong and Xochitl Gonzalez.
Praise for CrocoDilopolis
“In this beautiful novel [CrocoDopolis,] Arias creates a journey both mythic and necessary in the here and now. There is destiny, there is beauty, there is loss. In Arias’ work there is life in all its epic and intimate.”—Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of Chain Gang All-Stars
“The wonderful John Manuel Arias is bequeathing us—and Latine literature as a whole—his wildly imaginative second novel, Crocodilopolis. It’s a high-octane cocktail of obsession, fraternal revenge, Costa Rican politics, and yes, crocodiles. Lots of crocodiles. What could go wrong? Read this romp of a tale to find out!”—Cristina Garcia, author of Vanishing Maps
CrocoDopolis is “A lush, ambitious take on Cain and Abel intertwined with the rich history of Costa Rica.”—Silvia Moreno-Garcia, author of The Bewitched
“Crocodilopolis is a darkly intoxicating novel, at once mythic and wickedly contemporary. Through the feud of two brothers born into a corrupt political dynasty, Arias exposes how power mutates love into rivalry and destiny into violence. With lush yet exacting prose replete with humor and lyrical potency, here is a writer in full command of his world, delivering a ferocious meditation on masculinity, legacy, and national myth through an audacious, unforgettable book.”—Ocean Vuong, New York Times bestselling author of The Emperor of Gladness and On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
“The tales John Manuel Arias spins [in CrocoDopolis] are as gripping as they are stunningly written. A natural born storyteller of the highest order.”—Justin Torres, author of Blackouts
About John Manuel Arias, Author of CrocoDilopolis
John Manuel Arias is a queer, Costa Rican American poet and writer and author of the national bestselling novel Where There Was Fire. A Canto Mundo fellow and an alumnus of the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop, his work has been published in the Kenyon Review, PANK, the Rumpus, and Akashic Books. He has lived in Washington D.C.; Brooklyn, New York; and in San José, Costa Rica with his grandmother and four ghosts.
John’s first novel,Where There Was Fire, was a National Bestseller, a Good Morning America Buzz Pick, and a Barnes & Noble Discover Pick. His newest novel is CrocoDopolis.
You can connect with John Manuel Arias on his website, and on LinkedIn.
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing | Macmillan
ISBN Hardcover 9781639738434
Pub Date: Aug 25, 2026
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