The son of good fortune : a novel
(Book)

Excel spends his days trying to seem like an unremarkable American teenager, he carefully avoids the spotlight. But Excel knows that his family is far from normal. His mother, Maxima, was once a Filipina B-movie action star who now makes her living scamming men online. The old man they live with is not his grandfather, but Maxima's lifelong martial arts trainer. And years ago, on Excel's tenth birthday, Maxima revealed a secret that he must keep forever. “We are 'TNT'-tago ng tago,” she told him, “hiding and hiding.” Excel is undocumented-and one accidental slip could uproot his entire life.