First published 2022
Mario watches his family crumble as medical debt from his daughter's illness devours their savings and his marriage falls apart. Desperate for money, he accepts work as a hired killer and discovers an unexpected talent for violence. After personal tragedy shatters his world completely, Mario agrees to one last dangerous job: steal a cartel's cash shipment worth $200,000 before it crosses into Mexico. He teams up with an old friend and Juanca, who has inside knowledge of the cartel operation. The three men drive across the Texas landscape and over the Mexican border, where their real motives surface and they face supernatural encounters that cannot be explained. Mario realizes that survival means more than avoiding a bullet to the head. Even if he lives through this mission, the man who returns will bear no resemblance to the father who started this journey.
Genres: crime, thriller, action, dark-fantasy
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family, redemption
Setting: Mexico, Texas
320 pages · Hardcover · Mulholland Books
Content warnings: graphic-violence, murder, substance-abuse