Tequila Sunset

Travel Guide

El Paso, USA

On the American side, El Paso detective Cristina Salas works in the city’s anti-gang unit. Then her path crosses with Felipe ‘Flip’. In Mexico,  Mexican federal agent Matías Segura works with the scourge that is Los Aztecas and also works with the US authorities

Juarez – Mexico

The Aztecas have no qualms about crossing the line, about killing, about drugs or about doing anything which will maintain their monopoly and power.

Things were different now, of course. That was the understatement, The reality was far more frightening, Bullets from Juarez sometimes landed in El Paso.

Cross border – and the Drugs war

The chapters alternated between Flip, El Paso detective Cristina Salas and Mexican federal agent Matías Segura.

While this is a work of fiction, when reading it you should remember that Los Aztecas do actually exist. This is not a novel to glamourise the gang problem but rather to look at the work involved as the police and other agents attempt to fight this scourge.

Brief, short chapters reflect the snappy and hard hitting nature of the story. Everyone mixed up in the events in the story suffers and there is a sense of the problem at large – the impoverished youth not just in Mexico but in the USA and the draw of the gangs and life on drugs. The important locations are the two cities on both sides of the border and the border region itself becomes a place of interest as although these two cities are the focus, you realise that this is only the tip of the iceberg. The two countries come together in the war against drugs and gangs  – and because of this the border region here is one where graphic violence is present and shockingly so throughout the novel.