El Sicario by Molly Molloy

A raw, first-person confession from a former Mexican cartel hitman that reads like a forensic testimony, detailing his recruitment, training, and the brutal methods of kidnapping, torture and murder he used while operating along the U.S.–Mexico border. He describes the bureaucracy and corruption linking police, cartels and drug-smuggling networks, offers precise accounts of surveillance and tradecraft, and alternates cold, technical detail with moments of regret and survival instinct. The result is a chilling, intimate portrait of organized violence and the social conditions that produced it.