This is not a book for the faint-hearted, with its unremitting accounts of corruption, kidnapping, rape, torture and mass murder that has resulted in more than 50,000 dead and thousands missing at the hands of nihilistic drug cartels, such as the Zetas, who brought mayhem to Mexico in the decade or so since the first new government in 50 years declared war on drugs and opened the gates of hell. Behind all the havoc is the scramble for the vast profits that can be made from the trafficking of cocaine from Colombia to the US via Mexico. The veteran English journalist Ioan Grillo has interviewed many involved in this horror show of barbarity, and while El Narco is a particularly painful read, Grillo's brilliant narrative and sober analysis is an important contribution to understanding how such a nightmare became reality and what might be done to end it.
