Kilometer 99

by Tyler Mcmahon

Malia needs to leave El Salvador. A surfer and aspiring engineer, she came to Central America as a Peace Corps volunteer and fell in love with Ben. Malia's past year has been perfect: her weeks spent building a much-needed aqueduct in the countryside, and her weekends spent with Ben, surfing point-breaks in the nearby port city of La Libertad. Suddenly, a major earthquake devastates the country and brings an abrupt end to her work. Ben and Malia decide to move on.

Now free of obligations, they have an old car, a wad of cash, surfboards, and rough plans for an epic trip through South America. Just as they're about to say goodbye to their gritty and beloved Salvadoran beach town, a mysterious American surfer known only as Pelochucho shows up—spouting grandiose plans and persuading them to stay.

Days become weeks; documents go missing; money gets tight. Suddenly, Ben and Malia can't leave. Caught between bizarre real estate offers, suspect drug deals, and internal jealousies, this unlikely band of surfers, aid-workers, and opportunists all struggle to find their way through a fallen world, in Kilometer 99 by Tyler McMahon.

Genres: Fiction, Travel, Realistic Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published June 17, 2014

About the author

Tyler McMahon was born and raised in the Washington, DC area. He studied English at the University of Virginia and received an MFA in fiction writing from Boise State University.
He's the author of the novels How the Mistakes Were Made (2011), Kilometer 99 (2014), Dream of Another America (2018), and One Potato (2022)

Reviews

[Kelly Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kilometer 99 is a very intriguing, hold your breath kind of story. We meet Malia who is in the Peace Corps in El Salvador. She is an engineer and has the project of her dreams. She feels she has a real shot at helping this town. She has a boyfriend, Ben who is also in the Peace Corps, but stationed in another town. There is a devastating earthquake in the area. They decide to stop their service early as they cannot continue with their projects. They plan to travel and surf through South America. They get an old vehicle to help their travels. They stay in La Libertad to start, a favorite place for them. Once here, one thing after another happens and prolongs their stay. Pelo is another gringo that they run across that tries to help them get some extra cash but Pelo seems to be unlucky for them. A lot of things start to get shady but once you are so deep it's hard to turn around. We run into bad injuries, drugs and drug dealers, amazing surfing, jealousy, and a great amount of moral dilemmas. This group is just trying to make it and make it happen. Trying to live in the moment. This book is very well written and a great amount of detail. I felt like in was right in the middle and found myself connecting with these characters in amazing ways. This is not a typical happily ever after by any means, but definitely shows us how not everything is at it seems. By the end we have followed Malia on an amazing journey of self discovery. Truly trying to be the best person she can be.

I won this book through Goodreads First Reads giveaway. Thank you for an amazing read!

[Angie Reisetter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got an advance copy of this book from FirstReads.

While I'm not usually prone to profanity in my reviews, it seems to me that this book is most aptly summarized by the phrase "shit happens".

As a location novel, it works well. It's set in El Salvador at the beginning of 2001, and the details of the lives of two Peace Corps volunteers (or ex-volunteers) are effortlessly worked into the story. I really enjoyed the descriptions of the towns and people of El Salvador. And the surfing is great. I could practically hear the ocean waves through the text.

The plot is a downer, though. Bad luck heaped on bad decisions on bad luck, followed by more bad decisions and bad luck. The first-person narrative, told by Malia, desperately tries to pull life lessons from what's happening. She gives up and then dives back in and then gives up, and then tries and screws up. She tries to make sense of it all as she goes.

But the chaos and yes, the shit, win. But then they don't. It's the old saying about standing up more times than you are knocked down, I guess. But by the end of the novel I was ready to give up on Malia. Several times I wanted to knock on her skull and tell her she needed to think things through a little before doing them. The ending felt like another pyrrhic victory, leaving more questions than answers.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to the author and/or publisher and First Reads giveaways here on Goodreads, can't wait to dive in!
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If you are looking for a summer read full of sun and surf but want something a lot grittier than your average beach read then this is it! You meet Malia and Ben in the place they love the most; in the ocean surfing the next big wave. The setting of El Salvador; the tumultuous place where they are serving the the Peace Corps; means that it is not going to stay all fun and sun for long. Soon the couple is in a dangerous world of drugs,violence, and thievery where one mistake could sidetrack their plans or even take their lives. You don't need to love surfing, but just understand that once you commit to a wave you have to ride it out or be wiped out.There are many such surfing is to life references, and the plot is often depressing, but in all a thought provoking book.
This was a previously unheard of book for me, randomly won in a Goodreads giveaway but quickly grabbed my attention and became a favorite of the year so far.

[AM · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, so this review might be biased as I'm a Salvadoran-born girl, and I was there through both the earthquakes presented in this book. I mean the entire reason I read this book is because not a lot of books are set in El Salvador. So the main players are Ben, Malia, and Pelochucho. I think the plot lulls a little as it is a lot of waiting to see what happens and waiting for the action. Malia was interesting; I thought she was supposed to be so complex and misunderstood but she's just okay. She slept with Alex, and it's supposed to show her torment, but what? She and Ben act like they care towards El Salvador but in a way they use the country, and get pissy if the locals or customs aren't what they expect. There's a bit of ~white savior syndrome~ in this book. Also, Ben's flat too. There wasn't anything remarkable about him. And...spoiler:why even kill ben at the end? what was the point of that? to be kind of a shock ending, make it sad just because? I mean the break-up of the two would've been more realistic


All in all, it gets a 3 because I did keep reading it.

[D.W.Jefferson · Rating 4 out of 5]

My primary reason for reading this book was for the description of the Peace Corps experience in El Salvador in 2001. I was a Volunteer there a quarter century earlier, in the mid 1970s. It was not so very different than my own experience, though the country has become more dangerous with all the gang activity and the crack heads.

As another reviewer suggested, a basic description of the layout of the city of La Libertad would have been useful. I also believe a couple paragraphs describing the construction of an adobe house with a clay tile roof would have been helpful for those who have never been to Central America to see one, and especially, to see an earthquake turn one into a pile of mud bricks and clay tiles. I saw the aftermath of the February 1976 Guatemalan earthquake, so I’ve got the visual etched on my brain.

I enjoyed reading the book, even without being a surfer! I can really identify with a technically trained Volunteer desperately wanting to complete a project, wanting to end their 2 years with a sense of accomplishment.

[Eric Shaffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yikes, this is the second time I've read this novel and the story is still the same rollercoaster ride I remember. I don't know if this is a spoiler or not, but I hated Pelochucho even more the second time. Having had people of such ilk in my life in the past, I was amazed at how well McMahon captured the utterly unscrupulous aspect of the personality that made Pelo such an agony to read. Pelo also had me screaming at the book--and you think screaming at the TV is bad--especially to Malia and Ben, to not do anything for that dude. I'd forgotten that Malia smacks him at one point, but this time, I wanted her to knock him down, straddle him, and pummel his stupid face. Can you tell I really liked this novel? I did. The narrative is compelling and absorbing and so up in your face that you can't see the page because you are afraid for our main characters and eager to punch a few. Excellent work.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not the fun, foreign travel book I thought it would be. Instead, I went down a dark and twisty rabbit hole with a depressing ending. It really just felt pointless.

I have literally been reading this book all summer! That says a lot about my enjoyment of it.

[Gregory Lamb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Get ready for a Five Star - Earth Shattering Adventure

I love novels with themes involving surfing. McMahon's Kilometer 99 is a story that should be on the shelf of every surfer and anyone with a sense of adventure that appreciates quality writing. I'll admit that the book's plot description in the flyleaf is what got my attention. In fact, it was enough by itself to encourage me to buy a copy and drop what I was previously reading so I could plow right through it when I should have done a better job of savoring every passage. I felt transported by McMahon's style and precise balances between plot and character development.

The title Kilometer 99, is a reference to a semi secret surf spot in El Salvador. According to the author's note, the spot doesn't actually exist, but is representative of the type of warm water point break with long hollow waves and make-able sections that every surfer dreams about.

The tumultuous world events at turn of the 21st century weave into the setting in La Libertad, El Salvador, where main character Malia,a recently minted engineering graduate from Hawaii, is a Peace Corps volunteer. The opening passage is a rail grabber written from Malia's point of view, that takes the reader on an authentic ride-along in the green room of a fast right, witnessed by a fellow surfer paddling back out to the line up.

It is through surfing that Malia meets Ben, an agriculture specialist with realistic expectations about his role in supporting local development. Turns of fate play significant parts in how McMahon masterfully creates drama throughout the story. An earthquake sets off a chain of events that cause Malia and Ben to seek a different type of adventure. They meet up with Pelochuco, the North American opportunist who influences many of the decisions Ben and Malia are faced with.

I was not only impressed with McMahon's ability to captivate my attention with his fast paced plot elements, but also his writing craft. The following quote is just one of many wonderful examples of this author's artistic talents: "The long day's last light clings like rust to the edges of a worn-out sky." The colors and tranquility of the scene presented in that passage transported me and still linger as I reflect on this beautifully presented story.

The realism accompanying each string of events that Malia and Ben encounter as they take up with Pelochuco, are almost tragic but somehow laughable at the same time. In the wake of one of Pelochuco's misbegotten adventures where each of the three were physically injured, Malia recounts their condition with her split lip, Ben's torn ear and the mutilated eyebrow Pelochuco received surfing at K-99. "Our three wounds have us looking like the 'See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil' monkeys."

There is no doubt about McMahon's credibility as a surfer and most definitely a writer. I've read all of Kem Nunn's work and was thoroughly captivated by Tim Winton's novel Breath, but Kilometer 99 tops my list of novels with a surf theme and ranks among the best of period pieces that appeal to my sense of adventure. This novel has so many wonderfully crafted passages that my best recommendation is to just read it.

[Liralen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wished I could always see the world that way: from out of the inside of a wave, through a telescope of salt water, a swirling set of blinders that block out all the second guesses. (3)

Kilometer 99 manages to start, simultaneously, at the beginning, middle, and end of the story: the beginning because the earthquake that opens the book is what starts the chain of events that take Malia through the next month (and the next 300-odd pages). The middle because you could argue that the story really started when she went to El Salvador with the Peace Corps, some year and a half earlier -- and the end because the earthquake puts an end to what might otherwise be a fairly ordinary trajectory for Malia.

I loved the characters -- how realistically flawed they were, how some of their misfortunes came about by bad luck but others owed more to poor choices, or hasty choices, or ego. (Or rather: I didn't always love the characters, but I loved how they were written.) But gosh, Malia and Ben (her fellow ex-PC volunteer) just can't catch a break. Once things start going wrong, they never really get better; it's just a matter of how bad things are.

Malia is interesting: She came to El Salvador because she wanted to see some of the world. She's passionate about her project -- an aqueduct -- but more ambivalent, it seems, about the Peace Corps. She's formed ties locally, and is comfortable there, but she's just as happy to spend weekends surfing with Ben...and she is, if rashly, ready to let her PC work go for an adventure with him.

Except, of course, it isn't as tidy as all that.

It ends up being quite dark. Darker than necessary, perhaps. Didn't care for the scene in the police station (for multiple reasons, most of which would involve spoilers). Curious about the...prophecy...thing...but not convinced that the climax didn't involve one element too many. Ambivalent about the epilogue-y follow-up.

But other times, my story seems to beg the most fundamental question of our age: What's a decent person supposed to do when confronted with a fallen world? (28)

In the end it's really a redemption story, I suppose. You'll have to read it to decide whether or not that redemption is earned.

I received a free copy of this book via a Goodreads giveaway.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have really mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I love books about ex-pats, travel, and Americans interacting with different cultures and environments. But this book was just so depressing. It was quite cinematic in terms of the storytelling - things just kept getting worse and worse. There was nothing beautiful about the book. Even the romantic relationship between the characters had all the charm of a cigarette stub. All the seem to do is surf, smoke cigarettes or joints, drink beer, make bad decisions, and get into trouble. Without seeming to understand why. Malia's present, intertwined with her back story, is an interesting one, but it's just so twisted. The scenes are different, but Malia keeps repeating the same mistakes over and over again in an endless loop. After every scene she comes to some kind of resolution, which is a little bit annoying for the reader since her issues are the same and the author continuously needs to invent different ways to both start and conclude chapters and scenes from her life. It's repetitive, and just serves to emphasize the book's endless darkness.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I chose Kilometer 99 because I loved Tyler McMahon’s debut novel How the Mistakes Were Made. Unfortunately, McMahon is suffering from a severe case of sophomore slump. I tried so hard to enjoy this book but the most part, I just didn’t. There was barely any character development. Even though I found Malia and Ben largely unlikable, that wasn’t my problem with them. I can like a book even if I don’t like any of the characters. My problem was that I didn’t have any background on them at all. The novel’s setting wasn’t described very well either. Ben and Malia spend a lot of time at the hotel where they are living but I didn’t know anything about what the hotel looked like or how it was set up. The owner Kristy would talk to them from the kitchen while they were outside. It was confusing and I would have like to have had a mental picture of it in my mind.

The plot was supposed to be suspenseful and thrilling. Who is Pelochucho? Is he really who he says he is? I was interested in finding out what his deal was but not so much that I couldn’t put the book down. If I were you, I’d skip this one and hope that McMahon’s next book is as good as his first.

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well-written book by a teacher of fiction writing at a university. He tells it like it is with Peace Corp Volunteers in earthquake prone countries like El Salvador. The devastation and deaths are horrific. The surfing descriptions are interesting, even to someone who would never even consider riding the waves. Idealistic volunteers wonder whether they are even making a difference in these countries, because earthquakes, storms, etc. wipe out their efforts, donations of supplies are often mishandled and wasted, and crime and danger co=exist with bad living conditions. This is a good read, and I give it five stars and two thumbs up.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a goodreads giveaway.

This book was an interesting read. It was an advance readers copy, so a few spelling/typo errors in some places. But as a story for a whole it was okay. I found myself not really liking the characters that much or really understanding how some of the events ending up coming to pass as they did. I liked the chapters that were glimpses leading up to where the book started. It was nice to see and learn some of that.

[Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads

Kilometer 99 takes a look at two Peace Corps volunteers who can't win for losing. I think the author did an excellent job describing the waves and landscape of the land. This book was a page turner that I did enjoy, I only deducted one star because it's pretty depressing and dismal. Keep in mind that it's not going to have a happy ending.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tyler McMahon is a skilled author as he takes us through the winding and enthralling story of Malia. As a Peace Corps Volunteer myself, I empathized much with what the character went through, immersed in a writing style so easy to pour myself into, the book was over much sooner than I was ready for. This entertaining, realistically disturbing, and excellently descriptive ride McMahon will take you on is not a trip you will be soon to forget with characters that come alive off the pages.

[Shina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book through first-reads. Being honest, it took me a little while to get into the book. Sometimes the book went back and forth between the present and the past and it was a bit confusing. However the story line did eventually get really interesting and I ended up enjoying the book...

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story was very intense. The situations they found themselves in were scary. I found myself both envious and fearful for the characters. However, after reading this story I am not rushing to visit El Salvador.

[Beth Shultz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good adventure type book. I really enjoyed reading it. Won this book from goodreads.