the Devil Who Killed

Before he was Chico Diabo, he was Francisco. Raised on the cold plains of the Province of São Pedro, among frost, horses, and a violence he never sought but never fled, José Francisco Lacerda learned early that some decisions last only an instant - and remain for a lifetime. When the Paraguayan War tears him from the Province and from Isabel, Francisco leaves with a promise to return. Through years of combat, he crosses rivers, fortresses, ruined cities, and fields covered with the dead. He becomes a soldier, then a corporal, and earns among the men a name that has followed him since youth: Chico Diabo. As Francisco advances, Solano López leads what remains of Paraguay deeper into a war already lost. Elisa Lynch stays beside him to the end. One Francisco flees. The other follows his trail. The distance between them narrows every day. At Cerro Corá, the pursuit finally ends. The war ends. The legend begins.