The Poison of War

The Poison of War by Jennifer Leeper is a short but excellent book about the discovery of the bodies of 2 Mexican drug smugglers on an Native American reservation on the Mexican border. As a pair of local detectives investigate the case the lives, culture and history of the Tohono O'odham people all play apart in a very accomplished piece of writing. The setting is quite unique and is drawn with flair by Ms Leeper, the few people living the traditional way and trying to preserve their culture, the young people angry at the incursion of the drug cartels while seeing the border controls being beefed up while relatives live on the other side, all come alive. This reminded me very much of Cormac McCarthy's books, a great story with strong characters and a great sense of place. I'll certainly be looking out for more books by Jennifer Leeper.

Big thanks to Jennifer Leeper, Prensa Press and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

This is why I love the opportunity of receiving an ARC, advanced reading copy in general and NetGalley in particular.
It elevates your reading from tried and tested authors, leaving aside briefly the comfortable books to the more challenging. The familiar genres to the most fanciable and leaving writing of similar styles to embrace new cultures and customs.
I was intrigued to look at the lack of border security between the USA and Mexico. How an ancient people viewed their lands when an artificial boundary was created. How traditional ways may resurface to deal with a contemporary problems of drug trafficking.
Two local detectives are assigned to a case then two smugglers from a Mexican cartel are killed close to the border. It has all the hallmarks of a ritual killing to send a message; but what has brought matters to such a confrontation and can the cops be accepted among their own to unravel the truth and head off potential border disputes at the pass.
I loved this cultural police procedural where customs and traditions propelled the characters as much as motive and where greed is not an issue.
The detectives with their own roots and common ancestors blurring their own motivation at times was a difficult path for the author to plot as much as for the cops to follow. I loved the tension; the submission to the law. I loved the sense of values and the spoiled future of these proud indigenous people.
Although just a novella it is a rich tapestry of language, values and a broken community. I enjoyed spending time in this milieu and unlike some deeper moral novels found it hard to condemn or feel sympathy for the initial murdered men.
Seek out this author and try to read this book for yourself. You will be pleased you made the effort.

Two killings near the border where Frank and Arturo have to break the silence surrounding the Indian Reservation to understand what provoked this crime and just who is being protected.
An interesting style by Jennifer Leeper with the crime being front and centre while we have back stories concerning the losing of ones culture, dispossession, tradition, and a gap fermenting between young and old.
Well written novella.
An independent review for NetGalley and Pensa Press