Playing for the Devil's Fire

Playing for the Devil’s Fire, a young adult novel by Dominican-born writer Phillippe Diederich, follows thirteen-year-old Liberio Flores, also known as Boli, the son of the town baker in the small Mexican puebla of Izayoc. Located west of Mexico City, it is a sleepy town where nothing much happens. Izayoc is also known as the place of tears. Boli starts to notice some changes in his neighborhood at the same time his parents leave for Toluca but never make it to their destination. Worried, Boli finds that none of his neighbors wants to talk about what is going on. One day, Boli meets a luchador, and hopes that the man will agree to accompany him on his search to find his parents.

The book is loosely based on Diederich’s own experiences. After he was born in the Dominican Republic, he moved with his family to Mexico City and then to Miami. His parents were forced out of Haiti in 1963 by the dictatorship of Papa Doc Duvalier. As a photojournalist, Diederich has traveled extensively through Mexico and witnessed the terrible tragedies of the Drug Wars, which inspired him to create this narrative.

As the novel opens, it describes the small town of Izayoc, and gives the reader more insight into the protagonist. Boli’s day-to-day life centers around his love for nineteen-year-old Ximena as he attempts to get her to notice him, and his struggle to find the money to watch one of his favorite luchadors, El Hijo del Santo, who is performing in the local fair. Boli has heard that El Hijo del Santo is washed up, no longer in his prime fighting days, and mostly concerned with where his next meal is going to come from. In spite of these rumors, Boli refuses to abandon his hero and is determined to find a way to watch him wrestle.



Boli starts to notice changes in Izayoc. Some newcomers arrive, and now his neighbors, whom he has always known to be of modest means, are suddenly driving around in brand new SUVs. Some of the local pimple-faced teenagers are surrounded by attractive women who normally wouldn’t look twice at them. Confused, Boli struggles to make sense of the changes, as he realizes that more and more of his friends and neighbors are becoming involved with whatever it is that is going on. As time goes on, Boli learns about corruption and learns the truth about the war that is going on in his own backyard.

One hot Sunday morning, Boli and his friends are fully immersed in their game of marbles. This is how Boli and his friends typically pass their time on the weekends. An older boy, Mosca, has just won the prized Devil's Fire marble. Jealous, the other boys want to win it away from him. Everything about this day seems like just about every other Sunday that Boli has spent in Izayoc. Then, on the way to church, someone discovers the severed head of Enrique Quintanilla, Boli’s teacher, propped on the ledge of one of the cement planters in the plaza, and everything changes.

Boli can no longer ignore the changes that are taking place in Izayoc; things have become dangerous. A new highway has been constructed, bringing violence to their village. His parents set out for Toluca, and when he doesn’t hear from them, he tries to go to his neighbors for help, but they seem uninterested in getting involved.



Boli’s only hope to see his parents again lies in his Catholic faith and in a Lucha Libre wrestler named El Hijo del Santo, who arrives in town as a substitute for a match. After having held out faith for this man, Boli soon realizes that he is the person everyone says—an old, washed-up
drunk. Boli still believes they can locate his parents and save them, but the wrestler challenges Boli’s belief in the ultimate triumph of good over evil that the plot lines of Lucha Libre represent. However, on some level, El Hijo del Santo believes them as well, choosing to stay in Izayoc to seek redemption rather than moving on to safer venues. He and Boli band together to save lives, bring back the missing, and stop the town’s destruction.

Diederich is skilled in his description of life in the small Mexican puebla, drawing from his real-life experience. He addresses the issues of gang violence and trafficking without being blatantly obvious about it. The words “drugs,” “narcos,” “gangsters” are never used, and yet they are there, changing the dynamics of the town just as Narcos and the war on drugs have changed Mexico in real life, turning it into a violent and dangerous place.