What do you think?
Rate this book
City Without Stars
The epic second novel from the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger-shortlisted and Shamus-nominated author of Fever CityMexico - Ciudad Real is in the economy is in meltdown, a new war between rival cartels is erupting, and a serial killer is murdering hundreds of female workers.Fuentes, the detective in charge of the investigation, suspects that most of his colleagues are on the payroll of his chief suspect, narco kingpin, El Santo. If he's going to stop the killings, he has to convince fiery union activist, Pilar, to ignore all her instincts and work with him. But in a city eclipsed by murder, madness and magic, can she really afford to trust him?
Paperback
First published January 16, 2018
13 people are currently reading
206 people want to read
About the author
Tim Baker
3 books15 followersBorn in Sydney, Tim Baker lived in Rome and Madrid before moving to Paris, where he wrote about jazz. He has worked on film projects in India, China, Mexico, Brazil and Australia, and currently lives in the South of France with his wife, their son, and two rescue animals, a dog and a cat.
His debut novel, the neo-noir thriller FEVER CITY, was published in 2016 and went on to be shortlisted for the CWA’s John Creasey New Blood Dagger award as well as being nominated for the Private Eye Writers of America’s Shamus Award for best first novel.
His new novel, CITY WITHOUT STARS, an epic thriller set in Mexico, is out with Faber & Faber January 2018.
Praise For Fever City
Some fine novels have explored the assassination (of JFK) including Stephen King’s “11/22/63” . . . To this list we can now add Tim Baker’s remarkable first novel “Fever City.” Baker tells his story in three related plots set in 1960, 1963 and 2014, and he constantly moves back and forth among them. Keeping up can be a challenge, but it’s one repaid by inspired writing, memorable characters and an exhilarating, all but overpowering story . . . Baker enhances his daring plot with vivid prose . . . “Fever City” delights in sex, hypocrisy and political conspiracy, but finally it’s about a tragedy that reverberates down through the years – Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post
This is a novel packed with tough-guy poetry, deeply felt emotions and startling images . . . The story twists and turns at speed like the famous ‘magic bullet’ that may or may not have killed the president . . . A superb debut novel. A direct hit – Jeff Noon, The Spectator, UK
A “what-if” thriller about America’s favorite idée fixe, the Kennedy assassination . . . In this ambitious debut, Baker gives us a bare-knuckle take on the president’s murder and adds two other plotlines, connecting them solidly with the equivalent of a jab-jab-cross combination . . . All three narrative threads turn out to wrap around Philip Hastings, a tormented hit man who stands at the center of a noirish storm of corruption, violence and depravity . . . At the core of “Fever City” is the sorrowful, all-too-real geography of Dealey Plaza, the terrain of history, “one huge killing field” that lends this alternative tale its heft. – The New York Times Book Review, USA
His debut novel, the neo-noir thriller FEVER CITY, was published in 2016 and went on to be shortlisted for the CWA’s John Creasey New Blood Dagger award as well as being nominated for the Private Eye Writers of America’s Shamus Award for best first novel.
His new novel, CITY WITHOUT STARS, an epic thriller set in Mexico, is out with Faber & Faber January 2018.
Praise For Fever City
Some fine novels have explored the assassination (of JFK) including Stephen King’s “11/22/63” . . . To this list we can now add Tim Baker’s remarkable first novel “Fever City.” Baker tells his story in three related plots set in 1960, 1963 and 2014, and he constantly moves back and forth among them. Keeping up can be a challenge, but it’s one repaid by inspired writing, memorable characters and an exhilarating, all but overpowering story . . . Baker enhances his daring plot with vivid prose . . . “Fever City” delights in sex, hypocrisy and political conspiracy, but finally it’s about a tragedy that reverberates down through the years – Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post
This is a novel packed with tough-guy poetry, deeply felt emotions and startling images . . . The story twists and turns at speed like the famous ‘magic bullet’ that may or may not have killed the president . . . A superb debut novel. A direct hit – Jeff Noon, The Spectator, UK
A “what-if” thriller about America’s favorite idée fixe, the Kennedy assassination . . . In this ambitious debut, Baker gives us a bare-knuckle take on the president’s murder and adds two other plotlines, connecting them solidly with the equivalent of a jab-jab-cross combination . . . All three narrative threads turn out to wrap around Philip Hastings, a tormented hit man who stands at the center of a noirish storm of corruption, violence and depravity . . . At the core of “Fever City” is the sorrowful, all-too-real geography of Dealey Plaza, the terrain of history, “one huge killing field” that lends this alternative tale its heft. – The New York Times Book Review, USA
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
January 22, 2018
Tim Baker follows up his wonderful and dark "Fever City" with another City - this one without stars - and it was brilliant. Hard hitting, authentic, compelling characters and a socially relevant story.
This is powerful stuff here, the story lives and breathes, the dissecting of a crime culture, the exploration of exploitation, the sheer reality and complexity that the author brings to the issue is absolutely astounding and actually I am incapable of putting into words how much this novel affects you as you read it.
I don't generally read cartel stories (Winslow aside) but I had an inkling that this one was not to be missed and I was correct - the characters engaged me, I felt every moment of it and the descriptive sense of place and people was breathtaking. Tim Baker is a true weaver of words, his sense of character depth is intuitively captivating, the writing is edgy and authentic, the violent beauty of it is disturbing on all the right levels.
If it's strong female protagonists that you want then look no further than Pilar, who I don't believe I will ever forget. There are threads running through this taken straight from reality, making it hugely emotionally resonant both in fact and fiction.
In reality there is no way to say absolutely how good this book is. The world we live in can be a dark and scary place. In the City Without Stars this is brought home in vivid, unrelenting and massively compelling ways.
Absolutely highly recommended.
No stars in the City but all the stars for the read...
This is powerful stuff here, the story lives and breathes, the dissecting of a crime culture, the exploration of exploitation, the sheer reality and complexity that the author brings to the issue is absolutely astounding and actually I am incapable of putting into words how much this novel affects you as you read it.
I don't generally read cartel stories (Winslow aside) but I had an inkling that this one was not to be missed and I was correct - the characters engaged me, I felt every moment of it and the descriptive sense of place and people was breathtaking. Tim Baker is a true weaver of words, his sense of character depth is intuitively captivating, the writing is edgy and authentic, the violent beauty of it is disturbing on all the right levels.
If it's strong female protagonists that you want then look no further than Pilar, who I don't believe I will ever forget. There are threads running through this taken straight from reality, making it hugely emotionally resonant both in fact and fiction.
In reality there is no way to say absolutely how good this book is. The world we live in can be a dark and scary place. In the City Without Stars this is brought home in vivid, unrelenting and massively compelling ways.
Absolutely highly recommended.
No stars in the City but all the stars for the read...
January 16, 2018
Tim Baker burst onto the Raven’s radar a couple of years ago with the brilliant Fever City – a skilful and mesmerising reimagining of the events surrounding Kennedy’s assassination. Having waited patiently, okay, somewhat impatiently- for his next book, City Without Stars plunges us into the nightmarish realities of life in Mexico, and presents the reader with a searing indictment of lives lived in the shadow of the cartels, corrupt law enforcement, unrelenting poverty, and female exploitation…
Harbouring a deep fascination with Mexico for many years, and citing The Power of The Dog by Don Winslow as quite possibly my favourite crime thriller ever, there was a palpable sense of excitement on embarking on this book. I will say quickly that I could not have been more satisfied with Baker’s exploration into, and intuitive depiction of life in the violent and corrupt surrounds of Ciudad Real. Punctuated by references to the well documented cases of scores of women disappearing, and being found brutally murdered, which by their inclusion crash into the reader’s consciousness throughout, City Without Stars is a claustrophobic and intensely compelling thriller.
The whole book is alive with the feel and atmosphere of the city itself, the heat, the noise, the grime and the sense of hopeless lives lived in the shadow of corrupt wealth and criminal activity. I really felt the harshness of the bleak desert terrain, the final resting place of the many female victims, and each time we encounter it there is an air of menace and threat that envelops you completely. Equally, the grinding poverty of the city, is prevalent throughout, particularly when Baker takes us in to the world of the maquiladoras – Mexican factories run by foreign companies, that export goods back to that company’s country of origin- and trains our attention completely on the exploitation of the women that they employ, with gruelling shift work, a pittance of pay and the malevolent shadow of violence and sexual abuse. Pilar is a mesmerising character, working as a union agitator, and seeking to spur these women on to challenge their feudal bosses, and to improve their working conditions. Baker not only captures her unrelenting crusade and her strength of character, but also hammers home to the reader the doubt and fear of those she tries to encourage to rise up and rebel. She is a real force of nature, and when she crosses paths with Fuentes, an isolated incorruptible cop, there is a wonderful frisson of suspicion and distrust between them that drives the book on. I think Baker captures the female voices of this book perfectly in this macho, patriarchal society, sensitively portraying the level of threat and violence they encounter, but also showing the strength of spirit they have to draw on to simply survive day to day. It’s beautifully handled, and gives rise to some of the most raw, emotional, and moving passages of the book- the writing is superb.
The whole book is underpinned with the stink of corruption, as Baker expands the plot throughout to encompass the deadly influence of the cartels, the rife corruption in the police force, and in this staunchly Catholic country, the seedy and immoral actions of the priesthood. These purveyors of misery, violence and greed, coil together like a roiling nest of snakes, impervious to punishment, and where life and death are treated with a dispassionate and cool contempt. The characters who inhabit these treacherous worlds are, to a man, brilliantly wrought, and you increasingly feel sickened, yet oddly intrigued, by the way they operate and prosper, feeding off the vulnerable and the addicted. The cartel boss, the priests, the police chief, and the factory owners all come under intense scrutiny, and you find yourself unable to look away from the depths of their depravity.
City Without Stars is an intense, emotive and completely absorbing read, suffused with a violent energy, and with an unrelenting pace to its narrative. It heightens the reader’s senses and imagination throughout, completely enveloping the reader in this corrupt and violent society, with instances of intense human frailty and moments of strength, underpinned by precise description, and flurries of dark humour.
Harbouring a deep fascination with Mexico for many years, and citing The Power of The Dog by Don Winslow as quite possibly my favourite crime thriller ever, there was a palpable sense of excitement on embarking on this book. I will say quickly that I could not have been more satisfied with Baker’s exploration into, and intuitive depiction of life in the violent and corrupt surrounds of Ciudad Real. Punctuated by references to the well documented cases of scores of women disappearing, and being found brutally murdered, which by their inclusion crash into the reader’s consciousness throughout, City Without Stars is a claustrophobic and intensely compelling thriller.
The whole book is alive with the feel and atmosphere of the city itself, the heat, the noise, the grime and the sense of hopeless lives lived in the shadow of corrupt wealth and criminal activity. I really felt the harshness of the bleak desert terrain, the final resting place of the many female victims, and each time we encounter it there is an air of menace and threat that envelops you completely. Equally, the grinding poverty of the city, is prevalent throughout, particularly when Baker takes us in to the world of the maquiladoras – Mexican factories run by foreign companies, that export goods back to that company’s country of origin- and trains our attention completely on the exploitation of the women that they employ, with gruelling shift work, a pittance of pay and the malevolent shadow of violence and sexual abuse. Pilar is a mesmerising character, working as a union agitator, and seeking to spur these women on to challenge their feudal bosses, and to improve their working conditions. Baker not only captures her unrelenting crusade and her strength of character, but also hammers home to the reader the doubt and fear of those she tries to encourage to rise up and rebel. She is a real force of nature, and when she crosses paths with Fuentes, an isolated incorruptible cop, there is a wonderful frisson of suspicion and distrust between them that drives the book on. I think Baker captures the female voices of this book perfectly in this macho, patriarchal society, sensitively portraying the level of threat and violence they encounter, but also showing the strength of spirit they have to draw on to simply survive day to day. It’s beautifully handled, and gives rise to some of the most raw, emotional, and moving passages of the book- the writing is superb.
The whole book is underpinned with the stink of corruption, as Baker expands the plot throughout to encompass the deadly influence of the cartels, the rife corruption in the police force, and in this staunchly Catholic country, the seedy and immoral actions of the priesthood. These purveyors of misery, violence and greed, coil together like a roiling nest of snakes, impervious to punishment, and where life and death are treated with a dispassionate and cool contempt. The characters who inhabit these treacherous worlds are, to a man, brilliantly wrought, and you increasingly feel sickened, yet oddly intrigued, by the way they operate and prosper, feeding off the vulnerable and the addicted. The cartel boss, the priests, the police chief, and the factory owners all come under intense scrutiny, and you find yourself unable to look away from the depths of their depravity.
City Without Stars is an intense, emotive and completely absorbing read, suffused with a violent energy, and with an unrelenting pace to its narrative. It heightens the reader’s senses and imagination throughout, completely enveloping the reader in this corrupt and violent society, with instances of intense human frailty and moments of strength, underpinned by precise description, and flurries of dark humour.
January 26, 2018
Enter the City without stars here
This is book is like a punch to the gut.
Then a stab in the heart
I have heard and read a lot about cities ravaged by drug cartels in Mexico as a student of Spanish and this really honed in on many of the grittier and unmentionable themes of what drugs and the drug trade means for the man and woman on the street. It's not for the faint hearted - scenes are graphic and unforgiving as is the language. Raw and brutal on every level.
There is some great writing here and even some humour – Felipe for example is described as “MoreMichelin than Goodyear” and his character is one I really enjoyed getting to know. I admired and feared for him and felt very keen to find out more about him and follow his investigation.
The historical and social background to this story however is the real selling point. The massacres and drug wars described in the book may be fictionalised here but they are real. Devastating drug wars and needless, senseless killings of women. It’s a war every day and seeing it evoked so well here in fiction is both frightening and gripping.
Hard hitting and honest. A city ravaged by fear and more. Brutally good.
July 2, 2018
I just could not get into this audiobook though I did persevere and listen till the end.
There are many five star reviews for this book so my plan is to try the paperback edition at a later date.
There are many five star reviews for this book so my plan is to try the paperback edition at a later date.
January 24, 2018
This is a big-hearted, wildly ambitious book. Tim Baker has set out to craft a uniquely demanding crime novel that is much more than the sum of its parts. Baker draws us into the world of the Mexican cartels, setting out in granular detail the mechanisms by which these gangs operate, and the manner in which their influence extends to corrupt everything in a nation that has all but surrendered to their insidious power. But at the heart of this novel lies something darker still. The unsolved murders of hundreds of women, a crime so horrifying that it could only be based on true life events. Told from multiple perspectives, Baker weaves a complex, challenging narrative, of a society at war with itself, and of one man's attempt to redress the balance by taking it upon himself to solve a crime of almost inconceivable evil. This is one of the best crime novels you will read in a long, long time.
February 20, 2020
Dark humour, brutal murder, appalling degradation, unrelenting poverty and corrupt law enforcement all combine to create something challenging, and thought-provoking in CITY WITHOUT STARS. Following on from his first novel FEVER CITY (shortlisted for the CWA's John Creasey New Blood Dagger, and nominated for the Private Eye Writers of America's Shamus Award for best first novel), Tim Baker, has created a view of Mexico in this second novel that's confronting and discomforting.
In amongst the heat, noise and sheer pulse of life within Ciudad Real, there are stories of women going missing, found brutally murdered. As the storyline bounces between descriptive passages on the deprivation of the town, the heat and dry desert surrounds, there are the stories of the foreign run factories, where many of these victims work. Mostly female workers, exploited by low pay and gruelling shifts, violence and sexual abuse always at the edges, the air of menace and threat builds, much like the heat haze builds as the weather imposes it's restrictions on life as well.
At the centre of all of this union activist Pilar, decides enough is enough, but her only ally turns out to be somebody from the corrupt law enforcement agencies. Pilar and Fuentes have to find a way to work together, and a way through the maze of corruption, and influence.
Dripping violence, and threat, reader's may find aspects of CITY WITHOUT STARS overwhelming. There were definitely points where this reader felt out of her depth. Everybody is corrupt - from the police force, to the factory bosses, the Catholic hierarchy, city officials and drug cartels. The disregard for life and dignity, the pursuit of money at all costs is lightened by the two main characters Baker is building here, with Pilar and Fuentes inspiring, without overblowing that aspect, and interesting, without making them too perfect for words.
The flurries of dark humour help enormously though, and whilst this is definitely the sort of book that you're going to find challenging, it's obviously supposed to be. CITY WITHOUT STARS is dark noir styled crime fiction, where the worst of human behaviour is dissected, flayed out, laid bare, called for what it is. No excuses, no cover ups, no pretence.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/revi...
In amongst the heat, noise and sheer pulse of life within Ciudad Real, there are stories of women going missing, found brutally murdered. As the storyline bounces between descriptive passages on the deprivation of the town, the heat and dry desert surrounds, there are the stories of the foreign run factories, where many of these victims work. Mostly female workers, exploited by low pay and gruelling shifts, violence and sexual abuse always at the edges, the air of menace and threat builds, much like the heat haze builds as the weather imposes it's restrictions on life as well.
At the centre of all of this union activist Pilar, decides enough is enough, but her only ally turns out to be somebody from the corrupt law enforcement agencies. Pilar and Fuentes have to find a way to work together, and a way through the maze of corruption, and influence.
Dripping violence, and threat, reader's may find aspects of CITY WITHOUT STARS overwhelming. There were definitely points where this reader felt out of her depth. Everybody is corrupt - from the police force, to the factory bosses, the Catholic hierarchy, city officials and drug cartels. The disregard for life and dignity, the pursuit of money at all costs is lightened by the two main characters Baker is building here, with Pilar and Fuentes inspiring, without overblowing that aspect, and interesting, without making them too perfect for words.
The flurries of dark humour help enormously though, and whilst this is definitely the sort of book that you're going to find challenging, it's obviously supposed to be. CITY WITHOUT STARS is dark noir styled crime fiction, where the worst of human behaviour is dissected, flayed out, laid bare, called for what it is. No excuses, no cover ups, no pretence.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/revi...
December 1, 2025
un noir ruvido, cupo e viscerale, nell'arido Messico al confine con gli USA..
stile molto particolare, senza fronzoli e molto affilato.. storia complessa, non lineare, che fa salti avanti e indietro.. una storia con molti capi che si intrecciano tra di loro.. il detective, la sindacalista, il narcotrafficante, la giornalista, il prete.. personaggi assurdamente vivi, sfaccettati, ognuno con i loro fardelli di colpe, di sogni e dolori, ognuno sporco dentro ma che cerca di fare il meglio che può, ognuno senza scrupoli per il suo bene superiore, con una moralità tutta sua.. niente è scontato, ma tutto è vivido, toccante, senza indulgere nel lurido..
una storia che racconta una realtà assurda, quelle delle centinaia di donne che ogni anno in Messico spariscono nel nulla e che molti neanche cercano.. una storia triste, reale, con un finale che non riannoda proprio tutti i fili, e che insieme a qualche momento di leggera confusione nella narrazione, non gli vale le cinque stelle.. ma davvero un ottimo romanzo!!!
stile molto particolare, senza fronzoli e molto affilato.. storia complessa, non lineare, che fa salti avanti e indietro.. una storia con molti capi che si intrecciano tra di loro.. il detective, la sindacalista, il narcotrafficante, la giornalista, il prete.. personaggi assurdamente vivi, sfaccettati, ognuno con i loro fardelli di colpe, di sogni e dolori, ognuno sporco dentro ma che cerca di fare il meglio che può, ognuno senza scrupoli per il suo bene superiore, con una moralità tutta sua.. niente è scontato, ma tutto è vivido, toccante, senza indulgere nel lurido..
una storia che racconta una realtà assurda, quelle delle centinaia di donne che ogni anno in Messico spariscono nel nulla e che molti neanche cercano.. una storia triste, reale, con un finale che non riannoda proprio tutti i fili, e che insieme a qualche momento di leggera confusione nella narrazione, non gli vale le cinque stelle.. ma davvero un ottimo romanzo!!!
May 12, 2018
Cartel novels/storys can be hit and miss as they usually can be overly cliched. Winslow has mastered the Cartel story and I consider him the benchmark. So when I saw this in the store it spiked my interest. We have multpile Pov for each chapter, an intriguing story about the belly of the Cartel. This is really well written with strong characters. Baker really shines when writing his female characters, especially Pilar in this story. I feel like its her story to tell in a way. He really makes you feel the stuggle people may endure throughout the exposure to such violence. The action is good but not to the same extent as Winslow. I did feel like it slowed towards the middle/end. If you're masive Winslow fan give this a shot, if you havent read any Winslow I'd probably say start with Winslow before you tackle this. Look forward to the authors future books.
November 24, 2024
Slow to begin with, the writing style was something to get used to, some chapters were really slow but near the end the story ramped up and was a lot more interesting!
September 10, 2018
Tim Baker burst onto the crime fiction scene with an outstanding debut, Fever City, a conspiracy thriller about the assassination of JFK. His follow up, City Without Stars, is in many ways a step change, focusing as it does on the Mexican drug wars. That said, there are similarities between the two, both being steeped in conspiracy, corruption and paranoia.
City Without Stars follows a Mexican police officer, Fuentes, and Pillar, a union official, as they both investigate the murder of women in the city of Ciudad Real. There have been 873 murders and all of them remain unsolved. If this story line sounds far-fetched, horrifically it is very much grounded in fact. Since 1993, the city of Ciudad Júarez has seen hundreds of murders of young women. Between 1993 and 2005 it is estimated that 370 women have been murdered, and while there have been some arrests, the murders have continued, and many Mexicans believe the real perpetrators remain undetected. So, this is the basis for City Without Stars, Baker’s protagonists trying to discover once and for all who is responsible for the mass femicide.
Alongside Fuentes and Pillar, we have Ventura, a privileged American journalist also investigating the killings, Padre Marcio, a corrupt archbishop, and the psychopathic El Santos, who heads the local cocaine cartel. Throughout the novel their threads remain separate but move inexorably closer and the reader just knows that when they collide the results with be shattering. Without giving away spoilers, the author doesn’t disappoint and the denouement of all this is intense
The plot of City Without Stars, while primarily focused on femicide, encompasses two underlying threads: the corruption sown by the drug trade and the maquiladoras – the warehouse factories where women endure back-breaking work for pitiful wages and which are a product of the NAFTA agreement. Baker shows how each are two sides of the same coin of exploitation, symbiotic forces that grind down ordinary Mexicans, particularly women, between them. So as with Fever City, City Without Stars is a deeply political novel with much to say about the society within which it is set.
In less able hands this complex story of five inter-connected character arcs might become confusing, but Baker handles it all with assured aplomb. Under the pressure of tying all the strands together, a lesser author might have created clichéd or cardboard cut-out characters, but Baker gives us a set of three-dimensional protagonists and antagonists who come alive on the page.
The Mexican drug wars have been the focus of great American writers – Sam Hawkens and the towering figure of Don Winslow to name but two – and City Without Stars is a worthy companion to the canon. Baker really encapsulates the sense of a state and society captured by the corruption engendered by the cocaine cartels, the fear that their impunity infects into every strand of everyday life. This is an assured follow up to the author’s debut and secures his place as one of the great crime novelists writing today.
5 out of 5 stars
City Without Stars follows a Mexican police officer, Fuentes, and Pillar, a union official, as they both investigate the murder of women in the city of Ciudad Real. There have been 873 murders and all of them remain unsolved. If this story line sounds far-fetched, horrifically it is very much grounded in fact. Since 1993, the city of Ciudad Júarez has seen hundreds of murders of young women. Between 1993 and 2005 it is estimated that 370 women have been murdered, and while there have been some arrests, the murders have continued, and many Mexicans believe the real perpetrators remain undetected. So, this is the basis for City Without Stars, Baker’s protagonists trying to discover once and for all who is responsible for the mass femicide.
Alongside Fuentes and Pillar, we have Ventura, a privileged American journalist also investigating the killings, Padre Marcio, a corrupt archbishop, and the psychopathic El Santos, who heads the local cocaine cartel. Throughout the novel their threads remain separate but move inexorably closer and the reader just knows that when they collide the results with be shattering. Without giving away spoilers, the author doesn’t disappoint and the denouement of all this is intense
The plot of City Without Stars, while primarily focused on femicide, encompasses two underlying threads: the corruption sown by the drug trade and the maquiladoras – the warehouse factories where women endure back-breaking work for pitiful wages and which are a product of the NAFTA agreement. Baker shows how each are two sides of the same coin of exploitation, symbiotic forces that grind down ordinary Mexicans, particularly women, between them. So as with Fever City, City Without Stars is a deeply political novel with much to say about the society within which it is set.
In less able hands this complex story of five inter-connected character arcs might become confusing, but Baker handles it all with assured aplomb. Under the pressure of tying all the strands together, a lesser author might have created clichéd or cardboard cut-out characters, but Baker gives us a set of three-dimensional protagonists and antagonists who come alive on the page.
The Mexican drug wars have been the focus of great American writers – Sam Hawkens and the towering figure of Don Winslow to name but two – and City Without Stars is a worthy companion to the canon. Baker really encapsulates the sense of a state and society captured by the corruption engendered by the cocaine cartels, the fear that their impunity infects into every strand of everyday life. This is an assured follow up to the author’s debut and secures his place as one of the great crime novelists writing today.
5 out of 5 stars
January 19, 2018
I am not sure I have the language to do City Without Stars justice. If I were to say: Powerful, Magnificent, Majestic, Breathtaking then it would sound like I was describing a racehorse rather than Tim Baker’s novel. Yet City Without Stars is all those things, it is an incredible piece of story telling written with a brutal beauty and an incredible intensity.
The first word I used was “powerful” and City Without Stars is all about power. In Mexico there seem to be many battles to be fought and through the story we shall follow some of the fighters. The drug Kingpin – El Santo – casts the longest shadow, he has the money, the men and the merchandise and he will do whatever he wants (and he does). It is not often that I will flinch at something I read but one scene in particular brought out a full body wince/jolt, the unexpected sudden brutality was shocking.
Faith has a strong grip over Mexican life too and it was no surprise to see that Padre Márcio was influential throughout the book. The link between church and corruption has been made in the past but Tim Baker shines the Mexican sun fully onto the worst behaviours of the church and its representatives. Padre Márcio gets the most detailed backstory, his position in the community explained by his path to adulthood and the trials he endured.
Where there are drugs there will also be police. Fuentes is the cop who wants to bring some justice to proceedings. Yet he knows the challenge he faces is enormous and he can have no faith in the integrity of his colleagues, many are in the pockets of the cartel and few will stand up and be seen to challenge the corruption.
The character who faced the biggest challenge is a young union actvist (Pilar). In the opening pages we see she has been targeted as a potential threat to someone in power and action is being taken to quash that threat. Pilar is seeking a fairer deal and better treatment for the women working in the manufacturing plants, the women who work for a pittance, have no respect from the men that run the plants and who meekly accept their lot in life. She is an extraordinary force but knows that changing the accepted way will not be simple. Her struggle to be heard and to make an impact which cannot be ignored was an important balance to the violence and intensity of the rival drug dealers.
There is so much depth and detail in City Without Stars that I cannot even begin to scratch the surface in a short review. It is a dark, dark read. The violence is brutal, the corruption is rife and the people are generally untrustworthy and unlikeable. But it all makes for utterly compelling reading.
Gobsmackingly Good.
The first word I used was “powerful” and City Without Stars is all about power. In Mexico there seem to be many battles to be fought and through the story we shall follow some of the fighters. The drug Kingpin – El Santo – casts the longest shadow, he has the money, the men and the merchandise and he will do whatever he wants (and he does). It is not often that I will flinch at something I read but one scene in particular brought out a full body wince/jolt, the unexpected sudden brutality was shocking.
Faith has a strong grip over Mexican life too and it was no surprise to see that Padre Márcio was influential throughout the book. The link between church and corruption has been made in the past but Tim Baker shines the Mexican sun fully onto the worst behaviours of the church and its representatives. Padre Márcio gets the most detailed backstory, his position in the community explained by his path to adulthood and the trials he endured.
Where there are drugs there will also be police. Fuentes is the cop who wants to bring some justice to proceedings. Yet he knows the challenge he faces is enormous and he can have no faith in the integrity of his colleagues, many are in the pockets of the cartel and few will stand up and be seen to challenge the corruption.
The character who faced the biggest challenge is a young union actvist (Pilar). In the opening pages we see she has been targeted as a potential threat to someone in power and action is being taken to quash that threat. Pilar is seeking a fairer deal and better treatment for the women working in the manufacturing plants, the women who work for a pittance, have no respect from the men that run the plants and who meekly accept their lot in life. She is an extraordinary force but knows that changing the accepted way will not be simple. Her struggle to be heard and to make an impact which cannot be ignored was an important balance to the violence and intensity of the rival drug dealers.
There is so much depth and detail in City Without Stars that I cannot even begin to scratch the surface in a short review. It is a dark, dark read. The violence is brutal, the corruption is rife and the people are generally untrustworthy and unlikeable. But it all makes for utterly compelling reading.
Gobsmackingly Good.
January 22, 2018
Reading a book that’s outside of your comfort zone can be scary – you don’t get that warm blanket of instant familiarity and have to fight against the bit of your reading brain that says you won’t enjoy it. But getting away from your reading comfort blanket can be extremely rewarding too – the books challenge and engage, providing different input and exposure to new scenarios, new characters and new writing style.
This, in a nutshell, was my experience reading City Without Stars. The novel is a gritty urban thriller set in Ciudad Real, Mexico. Amidst a deadly war between rival cartels, hundreds of sweatshop workers are being murdered. It’s not afraid to show the gritty reality of life and the descriptions of Ciudad Real, from the slick offices of the wealthy to the slums and sweatshops that house so many people, are evocatively described. The characters, similarly, feel real. These are not nice people – there are no heroes in this novel – but they are people, real and flawed and with a range of complex emotions and reasoning behind what they do.
This combines to create a fantastically taut atmosphere, tense and claustrophobic with a growing sense of the net tightening as the story progresses. It’s extremely compelling and definitely has that page-turning quality. Even the violence, which is frequent and bloody, and the language, with an f-bomb on every page, didn’t feel unnecessary – yes, it’s unpalatable but that’s because it’s meant to be. There are no off-page deaths here – if it happens, the reader experiences it because the characters experience it and it feels frighteningly real.
Whilst I wouldn’t say it’s converted me to a reading diet of gritty underworld crime, it was a novel that broadened my horizons – the Latin American setting was a new one to me and I found the challenges of investigating amidst the drugs war and the internal corruption to well-conceived and though-provoking. It’s not a novel for the faint-hearted but fans of hard-boiled detective novels and urban thrillers will definitely find a page-turning, compelling read in City Without Stars.
This is an edited version of a full review which appeared as part of the City Without Stars blog tour on my blog, https://theshelfofunreadbooks.wordpre.... My thanks go to the publisher for an advance copy in return for an honest and unbiased review.
This, in a nutshell, was my experience reading City Without Stars. The novel is a gritty urban thriller set in Ciudad Real, Mexico. Amidst a deadly war between rival cartels, hundreds of sweatshop workers are being murdered. It’s not afraid to show the gritty reality of life and the descriptions of Ciudad Real, from the slick offices of the wealthy to the slums and sweatshops that house so many people, are evocatively described. The characters, similarly, feel real. These are not nice people – there are no heroes in this novel – but they are people, real and flawed and with a range of complex emotions and reasoning behind what they do.
This combines to create a fantastically taut atmosphere, tense and claustrophobic with a growing sense of the net tightening as the story progresses. It’s extremely compelling and definitely has that page-turning quality. Even the violence, which is frequent and bloody, and the language, with an f-bomb on every page, didn’t feel unnecessary – yes, it’s unpalatable but that’s because it’s meant to be. There are no off-page deaths here – if it happens, the reader experiences it because the characters experience it and it feels frighteningly real.
Whilst I wouldn’t say it’s converted me to a reading diet of gritty underworld crime, it was a novel that broadened my horizons – the Latin American setting was a new one to me and I found the challenges of investigating amidst the drugs war and the internal corruption to well-conceived and though-provoking. It’s not a novel for the faint-hearted but fans of hard-boiled detective novels and urban thrillers will definitely find a page-turning, compelling read in City Without Stars.
This is an edited version of a full review which appeared as part of the City Without Stars blog tour on my blog, https://theshelfofunreadbooks.wordpre.... My thanks go to the publisher for an advance copy in return for an honest and unbiased review.
December 15, 2022
I wanted to like this a lot more than I did - it sounded like a quick read, but it wasn't! This is a personal viewpoint only, but I found it very put-down-able, which is why it's taken me so long to read. It should have been a massive page turner, and it was well written, but it just didn't grab me. Which is a shame.
Blurb:
Mexico - Ciudad Real is in crisis: the economy is in meltdown, a new war between rival cartels is erupting and a serial killer is murdering hundreds of female workers.
Fuentes, the detective in charge of the investigation, suspects that most of his colleagues are on the payroll of his chief suspect, narco kingpin El Santo. If he's going to stop the killings, he has to convince fiery union activist Pilar to ignore all her instincts and work with him. But in a city eclipsed by murder, madness and magic, can she really afford to trust him?
See - a good blurb. But 421 pages later, and I can say that the blurb is the most interesting bit. I finished this a few days ago, and I can't remember anything about it, bar that the ending was disappointing. It felt that it was leading up to another volume, but I don't really care that much about the characters to become enthused by them and want to know more. It's a shame, as this really should have captivated me. Maybe I'm not in the right frame of mind.
Thanks to A Box of Stories #ABoS for sending me something that I otherwise wouldn't have picked up. However, this is going to the charity shop, where someone else can love it more than I did.
Blurb:
Mexico - Ciudad Real is in crisis: the economy is in meltdown, a new war between rival cartels is erupting and a serial killer is murdering hundreds of female workers.
Fuentes, the detective in charge of the investigation, suspects that most of his colleagues are on the payroll of his chief suspect, narco kingpin El Santo. If he's going to stop the killings, he has to convince fiery union activist Pilar to ignore all her instincts and work with him. But in a city eclipsed by murder, madness and magic, can she really afford to trust him?
See - a good blurb. But 421 pages later, and I can say that the blurb is the most interesting bit. I finished this a few days ago, and I can't remember anything about it, bar that the ending was disappointing. It felt that it was leading up to another volume, but I don't really care that much about the characters to become enthused by them and want to know more. It's a shame, as this really should have captivated me. Maybe I'm not in the right frame of mind.
Thanks to A Box of Stories #ABoS for sending me something that I otherwise wouldn't have picked up. However, this is going to the charity shop, where someone else can love it more than I did.
March 2, 2019
There’s a lot going on in Tim Baker’s tale of crime, corruption and murder, City Without Stars, much of it depressing and lacking hope. Set in modern-day Mexico, close to the US Border, the story explores the unrelenting exploitation of women workers in sweatshops, the vicious rivalries between drugs cartels, a rotten church that harboured child abuse and now runs a criminal enterprise, endemic police corruption, and the rape and murder of women on an epic scale (at nearly a 900 at the time the story is set). Baker weaves these threads together through the work of union activist, Pilar, and honest cop, Feuntes who are both seeking justice and to expose and purge the cancer in the city’s society. It’s an ambitious story, but it is not an easy read given the focus, the scale of the violence, and the depth of institutional corruption. For the most part, it is also thought-provoking and engaging, but it starts to derail towards the end, the sections becoming shorter and the story petering out, avoiding a final denouement and leaving the resolution to the reader’s imagination. I don’t usually mind ambiguous endings, but my sense was that this story ended about thirty to fifty pages too short, which was a pity. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting tale that casts a light on the logics and consequences of a dysfunctional society.
July 24, 2023
Ciudad Real, Messico, terra di confine con gli Stati Uniti, inospitale e violenta, dove ogni anno centinaia di donne vengono assassinate brutalmente nell'indifferenza generale.
Le vittime sono tutte operaie delle maquiladoras, ovvero fabbriche straniere dove per pochi spicci le donne lavorano in condizioni di semi schiavitù.
La polizia chiude sbrigativamente le indagini e Fuentes sospetta che la maggior parte dei suoi colleghi poliziotti sia sul libro paga del boss dei narcotrafficanti, El Santo. Le vittime sono davvero troppe per poter parlare di un serial killer e Fuentes comincia lentamente a svelare l'orribile verità che si cela dietro a questi omicidi raccapriccianti.
Attraverso cinque personaggi principali Tim Baker racconta una delle pagine più oscure della storia del Messico dando vita ad un thriller dal ritmo incalzante da cui è difficile staccarsi e che affronta temi scottanti come la violenza sulle donne e le ingiustizie sociali. Super consigliato!
Le vittime sono tutte operaie delle maquiladoras, ovvero fabbriche straniere dove per pochi spicci le donne lavorano in condizioni di semi schiavitù.
La polizia chiude sbrigativamente le indagini e Fuentes sospetta che la maggior parte dei suoi colleghi poliziotti sia sul libro paga del boss dei narcotrafficanti, El Santo. Le vittime sono davvero troppe per poter parlare di un serial killer e Fuentes comincia lentamente a svelare l'orribile verità che si cela dietro a questi omicidi raccapriccianti.
Attraverso cinque personaggi principali Tim Baker racconta una delle pagine più oscure della storia del Messico dando vita ad un thriller dal ritmo incalzante da cui è difficile staccarsi e che affronta temi scottanti come la violenza sulle donne e le ingiustizie sociali. Super consigliato!
March 18, 2018
Hmm, I began this by thinking it might be a new Don Winslow (on one of his better days) or maybe Joseph Wambaugh, but ended thinking it just missed that standard. I'd be hard pushed to explain why, because the story was interesting, the characters plausible and the setting what I'd imagined it to be. But it just lacked something, some colour or depth that you kind of know when you see. I struggled to finish the last fifty pages, which is quite strange for me if I've managed to breeze through the first fifty, like I did when I started this book. It ran out of steam, or the clouds covered the stars. Or something. I hate giving three star "Meh" reviews, but that what this book warranted in the end.
August 12, 2018
Inexorable tragedy & its aftermath.
Good, strong characterization. Individuals caught in currents of the violent movements of struggle and survival, bloody rip currents of forces beyond their individual controls.
Terse, lean, muscular, non-sentimental documentary-styled writing completely complementary and compatible with the subject matter.
Slightly let down by a small quantity of politically correct, metaphysical ramblings. A few weak plot flaws and an ending, perhaps not completely worthy of the book itself. Thus the 4* for the story and 4* overall rating.
Narrator an excellent and well-chosen fit for this writer's style and purposes. An audible book well worth your time.
Bravo.
Good, strong characterization. Individuals caught in currents of the violent movements of struggle and survival, bloody rip currents of forces beyond their individual controls.
Terse, lean, muscular, non-sentimental documentary-styled writing completely complementary and compatible with the subject matter.
Slightly let down by a small quantity of politically correct, metaphysical ramblings. A few weak plot flaws and an ending, perhaps not completely worthy of the book itself. Thus the 4* for the story and 4* overall rating.
Narrator an excellent and well-chosen fit for this writer's style and purposes. An audible book well worth your time.
Bravo.
January 22, 2018
Review to follow on https://crimeworm.wordpress.com, but a wonderful follow-up novel from Tim Baker, author of the fabulous debut Fever City. Complex, topical, educational, with a variety of fascinating characters, this Mexican-set epic will appeal to those who enjoyed Don Winslow's The Power Of The Dog and The Cartel, and has echoes of James Ellroy, yet is also refreshingly original. Baker is a huge talent.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
June 16, 2018
This is a thriller for the times!
A complex, page-turning narco-thriller that also champions the abused women of Mexico. Baker also turns his gaze to the abuses of the Catholic Church, the politics of US/Mexico border relations, shaman healers, and the exploitation of Mexican labourers.
Like his debut 'Fever City', 'City without Stars' is audacious, cleverly conceived, and frequently poetic. A major accomplishment, and a book that is screaming out to be filmed.
A complex, page-turning narco-thriller that also champions the abused women of Mexico. Baker also turns his gaze to the abuses of the Catholic Church, the politics of US/Mexico border relations, shaman healers, and the exploitation of Mexican labourers.
Like his debut 'Fever City', 'City without Stars' is audacious, cleverly conceived, and frequently poetic. A major accomplishment, and a book that is screaming out to be filmed.
January 12, 2019
Really hard read
If you have had the good fortune to pick up any of the don Winslow books based on the cartel ( power of the dog and Cartel) if you have read them and then come across this one thinking it will be similar then don't make that mistake. I did and I finished this book but it was a hard boring read.
If you haven't read any of the above books read the don Winslow books pass on this one you will be doing yourself a favour.
If you have had the good fortune to pick up any of the don Winslow books based on the cartel ( power of the dog and Cartel) if you have read them and then come across this one thinking it will be similar then don't make that mistake. I did and I finished this book but it was a hard boring read.
If you haven't read any of the above books read the don Winslow books pass on this one you will be doing yourself a favour.
November 23, 2021
Another one where I think the synopsis is a tad misleading. Some of the banter is funny but the doom and gloom overwhelms all. As you can tell by the plot outline. Recommended to those in the normal crew that likes a bit of grim.
July 10, 2024
I was invested in the characters but this book finished about 50 pages too early.
Additionally, if you are going to use Mexican-spanish words and phrases throughout, please include some kind of glossary.
Both of these points ruined everything else that was good about the book for me.
Additionally, if you are going to use Mexican-spanish words and phrases throughout, please include some kind of glossary.
Both of these points ruined everything else that was good about the book for me.
January 29, 2018
A truly mind-blowing thriller. Big, bold, beautiful and brutal, it's a searing, complex story that moves along at a tremendous pace. A thriller for our times.
June 5, 2019
Binge read through this book. Scary. Will get the first book immediately
August 18, 2020
A gripping story from start to finish. Highly recommend.
January 28, 2021
An interesting book I'm not sure about the ending. Not something I would read normally but it was okay a little too violent in places.
dnf
April 1, 2021DNF @ page 45
Incredibly overwritten, and I'm a bit uncomfy with a white guy writing about Mexican drug cartels and exploited women
Incredibly overwritten, and I'm a bit uncomfy with a white guy writing about Mexican drug cartels and exploited women
April 10, 2021
An amazing book on The Drug Kingpins in Mexico based on the US Mexico border.
A great blend of characters that you will definitely enjoy.
I read it in two sittings.
A great blend of characters that you will definitely enjoy.
I read it in two sittings.
April 26, 2021
Libro con alcune stelle.
Libro interessante per tematica e "montaggio". Notevole l'impegno sociale. Mi hanno deluso il finale e la lunghezza.
Libro interessante per tematica e "montaggio". Notevole l'impegno sociale. Mi hanno deluso il finale e la lunghezza.
Read
September 2, 2021Abbandonato a pagina 200.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews