This is a sprawling epic of a book. It is to Mexican drug cartels what "The Godfather" is to the Mafia or what "Lonesome Dove" is to the cowboy genre. It is a multi layered, multi inter connected ensemble piece.
It touches on vast array of government agencies and initiatives as well as numerous criminal operations. Everyone gets a mention, CIA, DEA, Contras, the Chinese government, Marxist terrorists,Opus Dei and the Mexico City earthquake. As well as a multitude of agencies, characters and operations the story takes place over decades.
Among others we follow Art an army veteran who is an idealist when he joins the DEA, only to find his morals being worn down over the years in his obsession to bring down Adan Barrerra. Art gets drawn into doing the wrong things for the right reasons. Adan the cold cartel boss who loves his disabled daughter. Raul is Adan's vicious brother and enforcer. Nora is a whore with a heart of gold. Callan is a gifted killer who drifted into the murder game by being at the wrong place at the right time.
The set peices are memorable such as Adan being captured when a young man and being being taken in a helicopter with another prisoner, and when Callan becomes a killer.
These and many other characters and their vast array back stories are carefully woven into a complex slice of U.S. and Latin American history.
This is very much a shades of colour book. the good guys can be bad, the bad guys can be good. Only Parada the catholic priest has a balanced moral compass.
The author delivers some killer quotes in this novel, some of which I have brain filed for future reference. e.g.
"I dont believe in God," Art says. "Doesn"t matter," Parada says "He believes in you." or
"It's the smell of death, unimaginable if you've never smelt it, unforgettable once you have." or
"There is money and the lack of money, and there's power and the lack of power. And that's all there is."
This book shows us America and the war on drugs, how the money for the war on drugs is funneled into sycophantic corrupt states and used to fund anti communist death squads with the tacit approval of the U.S. and it is ugly and terrifying.
The torture scenes are necessarily horrific.
If there is a criticism, and it is only miniscule caveat, it is that the protagonists have conflict after conflict. It seems there is no end to the unrelenting betrayals and shoot outs that each character goes through in their character arc.
However, as I said it is a very, very small gripe. Pulls back the curtain on dirty deal politics.
Amazing book.
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