Along the Wire, by Mark Rogers, is a tour de force in brute force.
You will never know what you are made of until you move to Baja California, is the latest tourist campaign by the mayor of Tijuana.
I've read all of Mark's Mexican novels, all set in Baja California.
I think Steinback and Osborne also wrote about the area, but it's been pretty much off-limits to writers.
I watched Narcos, set in Colombia, I told Mark.
'Well, Frank,' he said, thoughtfully, 'you should watch Narcos, Mexico.'
I put my hand up, yes I use to be a traffic controller with a real stop sign.
'Mark, without sounding facetious,' I said, 'no one questions the verisimilitude of the series of Narcos, but why should I watch it when you are writing about them, from first-hand experience?'
'Did you know the cartel are bumping off their enemies on the tollway leading into the States?'
See what I mean, and no I didn't know.
I guess it's time for the enemy to use a boat or start digging some fresh tunnels.
Yes, I've read all of Mark's books set in Baja California.
If San Diego had an inkling of what was really going on south of it, the coastal town would pack up and hide in the California Redwoods.
You will never know what you are made of until you move to Baja California, is the latest tourist campaign by the mayor of Tijuana.
I've read all of Mark's Mexican novels, all set in Baja California.
I think Steinback and Osborne also wrote about the area, but it's been pretty much off-limits to writers.
I watched Narcos, set in Colombia, I told Mark.
'Well, Frank,' he said, thoughtfully, 'you should watch Narcos, Mexico.'
I put my hand up, yes I use to be a traffic controller with a real stop sign.
'Mark, without sounding facetious,' I said, 'no one questions the verisimilitude of the series of Narcos, but why should I watch it when you are writing about them, from first-hand experience?'
'Did you know the cartel are bumping off their enemies on the tollway leading into the States?'
See what I mean, and no I didn't know.
I guess it's time for the enemy to use a boat or start digging some fresh tunnels.
Yes, I've read all of Mark's books set in Baja California.
If San Diego had an inkling of what was really going on south of it, the coastal town would pack up and hide in the California Redwoods.
Sometimes you get the feeling that Mark's written world is closing in on him.
'I'm heading to Tijuana and trying to flog my books,' he told me.
I hope they take off.
I'm just hoping the cholos are watching Netflix and not reading novels.
Then I think the author will be safe enough to at least receive the Pulitzer Award for writing about the cartels right under their noses.
But they are closing in on him. Up the road from where he lives, he told me, was a double murder.
'It was the guy who sold me his car and his wife. His wife begged for mercy.'
The only mercy they got were their throat's slit, explained Mark, who said it was more writing fodder for his next book.
So pick up a copy of Along the Wire, and get off on a series that is right up with Narcos.
