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Down by the River: Drugs, Money, Murder, and Family
Lionel Bruno Jordan was murdered on January 20, 1995, in an El Paso parking lot, but he keeps coming back as the key to a multibillion-dollar drug industry, two corrupt governments -- one called the United States and the other Mexico -- and a self-styled War on Drugs that is a fraud. Beneath all the policy statements and bluster of politicians is a real world of lies, pain, and big money.
Down by the River is the true narrative of how a murder led one American family into this world and how it all but destroyed them. It is the story of how one Mexican drug leader outfought and outthought the U.S. government, of how major financial institutions were fattened on the drug industry, and how the governments of the U.S. and Mexico buried everything that happened. All this happens down by the river, where the public fictions finally end and the facts read like fiction. This is a remarkable American story about drugs, money, murder, and family.
Down by the River is the true narrative of how a murder led one American family into this world and how it all but destroyed them. It is the story of how one Mexican drug leader outfought and outthought the U.S. government, of how major financial institutions were fattened on the drug industry, and how the governments of the U.S. and Mexico buried everything that happened. All this happens down by the river, where the public fictions finally end and the facts read like fiction. This is a remarkable American story about drugs, money, murder, and family.
464 pages, Paperback
First published November 8, 2002
41 people are currently reading
1307 people want to read
About the author
Charles Bowden
67 books184 followersCharles Bowden was an American non-fiction author, journalist and essayist based in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
His journalism appeared regularly in Harper’s GQ, and other national publications. He was the author of several books of nonfiction, including Down by the River.
In more than a dozen groundbreaking books and many articles, Charles Bowden blazed a trail of fire from the deserts of the Southwest to the centers of power where abstract ideas of human nature hold sway — and to the roiling places that give such ideas the lie. He claimed as his turf "our soul history, the germinal material, vast and brooding, that is always left out of more orthodox (all of them) books about America" (Jim Harrison, on Blood Orchid ).
His journalism appeared regularly in Harper’s GQ, and other national publications. He was the author of several books of nonfiction, including Down by the River.
In more than a dozen groundbreaking books and many articles, Charles Bowden blazed a trail of fire from the deserts of the Southwest to the centers of power where abstract ideas of human nature hold sway — and to the roiling places that give such ideas the lie. He claimed as his turf "our soul history, the germinal material, vast and brooding, that is always left out of more orthodox (all of them) books about America" (Jim Harrison, on Blood Orchid ).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
May 5, 2018
I read this after leafing through the enigmatic “Blood Orchids” on my brother’s bookshelf. Learning that the author is an investigative journalist, and not Mark Bowden, I became intrigued. In high school a career evaluation program once said I would be a good fit for investigative journalism. Of course I ignored this and went into the life sciences, but now I realize this might have been a viable career path for me. But I wonder if I have the stamina and talent for this – Bowden is a brave man and takes on the most violent humans imaginable in this book. This tale is about the Mexican cartels in the 1990s and the collusion with government, and the international factors that enable it. It is a true account of the terror and violence that I read about in The Counselor (Cormac McCarthy’s novel, which some think is lesser but it is one of my favorites). Bowden’s book tells the narrative of a family in El Paso, across the river from Juarez, a short distance but oh so different. This tale is to weave together a number of vignettes that explain the origin of the DEA, the influence of NAFTA which compelled the US to not look too deep into Mexican government corruption and, most shocking to me, the lack of law and order that terrorizes the millions of citizens even today.
Phil Jordan is the main “protagonist” in this story, an innovator in the war on drugs campaign commissioned under Reagan. Bowden has the reporter’s cunning when sketching characters working in government agencies. Here is an example of his frustration when finally interviewing Jordan (p. 190):
“We are at a standstill. Jordan in two hours has surrendered molecules of information and sought to suck a few tons of details out of me. It is a habit of mind, along with the blank face, the constant movement. He is DEA and DEA is trust, deception, and finally, betrayal. It is the pattern of the work. The analyst has never been far from a desk. The other aide is resting up from some stint in Mexico. And this case, I can sense, has nothing to do with them, just something on the table that concerns the boss. And I am less than nothing. It is not simply the normal rational distrust of cops of the press. Cops live off secrets, the press lives by leaking secrets and blowing operations. This time it is something deeper: we know and you don’t. We listen in, we open the mail, we track the bank accounts, we have snitches in every room. We know. I can sense almost a feeling in their faces that they are among the elect. The ones who know how the world actually works while the rest of us are ignorant.”
In a way this book just confirmed my bias, that the solution to drug uses will never be failed by interdiction, and the attempt to do so simply breeds a dangerous tribe of criminal organizations (as in prohibition). What a colossal failure of the effort, and waste of resources. The economy of mexico was propped by illegal flow of drugs after NAFTA, and the corruption goes to the highest levels. Sadly, the ordinary people of Mexico are the ones to suffer, as the cartels bleed the economy and through out pittances of goodwill, just enough to maintain the status quo. It was hard for me to believe many of Bowden’s claims of corruption, but I followed up on several threads and his is spot on. The corruption is indisputable, and Bowden delineates his opinion from fact in a reliable way.
My only criticism of this book is that it is a bit long, in small font, and seemed to have been written over a long period of time. Some paragraphs felt cobbled together and repeated what had been said before, almost as if Bowden didn’t want to make the effort for a better narrative flow.
But 4 stars for the incredible content and generally excellent writing style. I learned a great deal about this topic, and that was my main goal.
Phil Jordan is the main “protagonist” in this story, an innovator in the war on drugs campaign commissioned under Reagan. Bowden has the reporter’s cunning when sketching characters working in government agencies. Here is an example of his frustration when finally interviewing Jordan (p. 190):
“We are at a standstill. Jordan in two hours has surrendered molecules of information and sought to suck a few tons of details out of me. It is a habit of mind, along with the blank face, the constant movement. He is DEA and DEA is trust, deception, and finally, betrayal. It is the pattern of the work. The analyst has never been far from a desk. The other aide is resting up from some stint in Mexico. And this case, I can sense, has nothing to do with them, just something on the table that concerns the boss. And I am less than nothing. It is not simply the normal rational distrust of cops of the press. Cops live off secrets, the press lives by leaking secrets and blowing operations. This time it is something deeper: we know and you don’t. We listen in, we open the mail, we track the bank accounts, we have snitches in every room. We know. I can sense almost a feeling in their faces that they are among the elect. The ones who know how the world actually works while the rest of us are ignorant.”
In a way this book just confirmed my bias, that the solution to drug uses will never be failed by interdiction, and the attempt to do so simply breeds a dangerous tribe of criminal organizations (as in prohibition). What a colossal failure of the effort, and waste of resources. The economy of mexico was propped by illegal flow of drugs after NAFTA, and the corruption goes to the highest levels. Sadly, the ordinary people of Mexico are the ones to suffer, as the cartels bleed the economy and through out pittances of goodwill, just enough to maintain the status quo. It was hard for me to believe many of Bowden’s claims of corruption, but I followed up on several threads and his is spot on. The corruption is indisputable, and Bowden delineates his opinion from fact in a reliable way.
My only criticism of this book is that it is a bit long, in small font, and seemed to have been written over a long period of time. Some paragraphs felt cobbled together and repeated what had been said before, almost as if Bowden didn’t want to make the effort for a better narrative flow.
But 4 stars for the incredible content and generally excellent writing style. I learned a great deal about this topic, and that was my main goal.
October 16, 2022
In his book Blood Orchid, Charles Bowden wrote, “It is obligatory to deplore the drug business. I will not do this.” I gave the book a high five, and let Bowden do his life work of explaining why that is.
Here is a little slice of that unwritten history. The drug trade that’s greater than the straight economies of about three-fourths of the world’s 207 nations. The drug world where, as Bowden says, “I can’t even produce a metaphor for the drug world anymore. I don’t even like the phrase the drug world since the phrase implies that it is a separate world.”
(“People in the US are more timid than in Mexico. In the US, oh, maybe the sheriff is corrupt and so forth, they think. This naïveté is incredible.”)
So I will not deplore it, this business as basic as Citibank. As American. I will read about it and think about it and wonder why that is.
“This unwritten history takes place down by the river, on the fabled banks where two nations meet. The official history is about the corruption of Mexico. The unwritten history, or the one that is almost instantly erased, is about the corruption of both nations. In this unwritten history, the drug merchants are almost the only honest players: vicious, greedy, murderous, and candid about their behavior. They are also the only real defenders of cutthroat capitalism since they literally cut throats and employ people based on their talents and with little regard to their sex, race, class, color, or religion. They are also one of the few industries in the developing sectors of the earth that really do redistribute income and do so at a level without parallel in the thousands of assembly plants now employing the poor of the planet.”
Here is a little slice of that unwritten history. The drug trade that’s greater than the straight economies of about three-fourths of the world’s 207 nations. The drug world where, as Bowden says, “I can’t even produce a metaphor for the drug world anymore. I don’t even like the phrase the drug world since the phrase implies that it is a separate world.”
(“People in the US are more timid than in Mexico. In the US, oh, maybe the sheriff is corrupt and so forth, they think. This naïveté is incredible.”)
So I will not deplore it, this business as basic as Citibank. As American. I will read about it and think about it and wonder why that is.
“There are things—the gulag of slave labor camps in the former Soviet Union, the burning bodies of the Holocaust in Europe, the clanking chains of human bondage in the United States—that intelligent and honest people know occurred and yet grow weary of contemplating. The drug business is not like such things. Beyond some songs, a few action-packed movies, the drug business is never really acknowledged. Drugs may be the major American story of our era, the thing that did more to alter behavior and law, that redistributed income to the poor far more dramatically than any tinkering with tax codes, that jailed more people and killed more people than any U.S. foreign policy initiative since the Vietnam War. But this vital force, this full-tilt-boogie economic activity, is absent from our daily consciousness and only surfaces when discussed as a problem. And this problem is always placed on the other side of town or the other side of a line or the other side of the river.”
January 8, 2014
Bowden tried too hard to make this read like both a news article and novel. While I believe it could have been a great story, too many dates, names, and random tidbits of information were stuffed into each page. The style was jerky and hard to follow. I would have liked to stop by a few pages in, but, as it was an assigned read, I had to slog through the entire thing.
Some parts were good and I really enjoyed them, but they nowhere near balanced out the dry stuff.
Some parts were good and I really enjoyed them, but they nowhere near balanced out the dry stuff.
August 4, 2013
This is a most excellent piece of journalistic writing, if depressing. The book revolves on how the war on drugs affect one family in El Paso. The story concentrates on Phil Jordan, a DEA agent, who becomes obsessed with avenging the murder of his youngest brother, Bruno, who he suspects had been targeted by the the Mexican drug cartels although Bruno was not involved in drug activity himself. The official conclusion was that Bruno had been involved in a car jacking gone bad but Phil believes otherwise and sets out to avenge his brother and is in a position to do so as one of the DEA chiefs in El Paso.
However, the book is much more than about this family. It is about the absurdity and impossibility to stop the drug trade. The war has already been lost as, according to the author, funds from drugs prop up the global economy, especially that of the U.S. and Mexico. Bowden explains how major U.S. companies, including those of Wall Street and major banks, like Citibank, launder drug money and then forward it on to the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, etc. or the money remains in the U.S. I was aghast reading how dependent our economy has become on drug profiteering and now understand why those CEOs of huge companies engaging in these acts can never be prosecuted despite a valiant Elizabeth Warren attempting to bring them to justice. This reader used to believe that legalization of drugs was the answer but drugs have infiltrated the world's economy to the extent that, doing so, could cause a global collapse. This is very frightening.
Bowden also does a great job of outlining the organizational chart of the various cartels and how the chiefs of the cartels are barely recognizable and rarely seen. He details the plethora of murders and how a mere association with one of those guys can mark one for death if there is any suspicion that this person knows a little too much or information arises that the person is an informant. Routine killings of high ranking Mexican officials are shrugged off such as those of various attorney generals. Bowden dedicates several chapters to former President Carlos Salinas, one of the most crooked Mexican presidents, along with his brother, Raul who stole billions in graft and bribes from cartels. Raul is now serving a life sentence in the U.S. but the whereabouts of Carlos Salinas is unknown. Most of these cartels seem to be based in Juarez-a popular place of murder and mayhem.
Bowden's investigative journalism is to be admired and I am surprised he is alive to write his story of evil and greed. He even implicates major U.S. figures in coercion with the drug trade. According to him, President Clinton placed drug issues as the lowest in the priorities that the country had to deal with. Janet Reno did not seem aware of the myriad of connections between Mexico and the U.S. when it came to drug smuggling and the occasional acquiescence of the FBI and CIA. Yet she chose to do nothing about it. Bowden speculates that foreign policy and good domestic relations with Mexico were priorities of the Clinton administration at the time. However, he does not leave out Reagan by stating that it was drug money that funded weapons for the Contras in Nicaragua.
Despite the journalistic tone of the book, it is never boring. It is a riveting read especially for those of us who had no idea how drug money is part of our every transaction and economic policies. The intertwining of the Jordan family life with the journalism also makes it a more compelling read because the inclusion of the Jordan family brings the issues into the personal. Bowden also interviews other individuals who are not directly involved in the drug trade but whose lives have been affected by addictions which include poverty, abuse and violence. He makes sure to make the reader aware that this is just not a global, but a personal, issue. I highly recommend this book. Rush to your nearest library or bookstore to buy this. It will change your view about the world and how it works.
However, the book is much more than about this family. It is about the absurdity and impossibility to stop the drug trade. The war has already been lost as, according to the author, funds from drugs prop up the global economy, especially that of the U.S. and Mexico. Bowden explains how major U.S. companies, including those of Wall Street and major banks, like Citibank, launder drug money and then forward it on to the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, etc. or the money remains in the U.S. I was aghast reading how dependent our economy has become on drug profiteering and now understand why those CEOs of huge companies engaging in these acts can never be prosecuted despite a valiant Elizabeth Warren attempting to bring them to justice. This reader used to believe that legalization of drugs was the answer but drugs have infiltrated the world's economy to the extent that, doing so, could cause a global collapse. This is very frightening.
Bowden also does a great job of outlining the organizational chart of the various cartels and how the chiefs of the cartels are barely recognizable and rarely seen. He details the plethora of murders and how a mere association with one of those guys can mark one for death if there is any suspicion that this person knows a little too much or information arises that the person is an informant. Routine killings of high ranking Mexican officials are shrugged off such as those of various attorney generals. Bowden dedicates several chapters to former President Carlos Salinas, one of the most crooked Mexican presidents, along with his brother, Raul who stole billions in graft and bribes from cartels. Raul is now serving a life sentence in the U.S. but the whereabouts of Carlos Salinas is unknown. Most of these cartels seem to be based in Juarez-a popular place of murder and mayhem.
Bowden's investigative journalism is to be admired and I am surprised he is alive to write his story of evil and greed. He even implicates major U.S. figures in coercion with the drug trade. According to him, President Clinton placed drug issues as the lowest in the priorities that the country had to deal with. Janet Reno did not seem aware of the myriad of connections between Mexico and the U.S. when it came to drug smuggling and the occasional acquiescence of the FBI and CIA. Yet she chose to do nothing about it. Bowden speculates that foreign policy and good domestic relations with Mexico were priorities of the Clinton administration at the time. However, he does not leave out Reagan by stating that it was drug money that funded weapons for the Contras in Nicaragua.
Despite the journalistic tone of the book, it is never boring. It is a riveting read especially for those of us who had no idea how drug money is part of our every transaction and economic policies. The intertwining of the Jordan family life with the journalism also makes it a more compelling read because the inclusion of the Jordan family brings the issues into the personal. Bowden also interviews other individuals who are not directly involved in the drug trade but whose lives have been affected by addictions which include poverty, abuse and violence. He makes sure to make the reader aware that this is just not a global, but a personal, issue. I highly recommend this book. Rush to your nearest library or bookstore to buy this. It will change your view about the world and how it works.
July 6, 2025
The overarching theme is that Mexico, at least during the events of the book, needs the flow of money from the sale of drugs to avoid collapse. The president of Mexico is corrupt, drug enforcement leaders and officers collude with the cartels. The USA needs a stable neighbor on its border so its drug enforcement efforts are for show. The truth is buried by both governments. It all sounds very fanciful and paranoid but the author provides convincing stories to support the premise.
The story starts with the murder of Lionel Bruno Jordan. In what appears to be a car jacking gone terribly wrong a closer look suggests Lionel's murder was a message from a Mexican drug lord to Lionel's brother Phil Jordan, a high level DEA official in El Paso, to back away from his enforcement work. The murder investigation starts with vigor but quickly peters out. Phil Jordan has many connections in the law enforcement community but even he starts getting the cold shoulder.
The book is interspersed with vignettes of unspeakable acts of violence and torture, many performed by Mexican drug enforcement agents on behalf of the drug cartels and occasionally against cartel leaders, the descriptions of which are mesmerizing. Along with the pervasive violence Bowden tells stories of Jordan family lore. The patriarch of the Jordan family is described as a wise and practical man with a violent past of his own.
Elements of magical realism appear throughout the book. Bruno's siblings, parents and cousins have visions of him. A glass of water and candle are kept so that Bruno is never thirsty and always has light to see. The water levels in the glass fluctuate and the candle goes dark and is re-lit.
This is my second reading of this book. I was in a deep reading slump and needed something familiar but unusual to rekindle my interest in books. I liked this book every bit as much as I did the first time but I've been mostly disappointed in the other Charles Bowden books I've read.
The story starts with the murder of Lionel Bruno Jordan. In what appears to be a car jacking gone terribly wrong a closer look suggests Lionel's murder was a message from a Mexican drug lord to Lionel's brother Phil Jordan, a high level DEA official in El Paso, to back away from his enforcement work. The murder investigation starts with vigor but quickly peters out. Phil Jordan has many connections in the law enforcement community but even he starts getting the cold shoulder.
The book is interspersed with vignettes of unspeakable acts of violence and torture, many performed by Mexican drug enforcement agents on behalf of the drug cartels and occasionally against cartel leaders, the descriptions of which are mesmerizing. Along with the pervasive violence Bowden tells stories of Jordan family lore. The patriarch of the Jordan family is described as a wise and practical man with a violent past of his own.
Elements of magical realism appear throughout the book. Bruno's siblings, parents and cousins have visions of him. A glass of water and candle are kept so that Bruno is never thirsty and always has light to see. The water levels in the glass fluctuate and the candle goes dark and is re-lit.
This is my second reading of this book. I was in a deep reading slump and needed something familiar but unusual to rekindle my interest in books. I liked this book every bit as much as I did the first time but I've been mostly disappointed in the other Charles Bowden books I've read.
December 15, 2025
"Down by the River: Drugs, Money, Murder, and Family" by Charles Bowden. This book was a fascinating read, packed with stories from the border between El Paso, Texas, and Mexico. The cruel deaths described paint a vivid picture of a world we usually only hear about. The details were so graphic that I had to put it down several times. It also delves into our government’s involvement and the countless lives impacted.
May 8, 2018
A very sobering look at the "war on drugs" that the U.S. Government touts occasionally.
The author took 7 years to write this book, really trying to get it as right as he could, given that the Mexican drug industry, supported by influential Mexican families,and high Mexican government officials, and the U.S. Government constantly trying not to really address the overall huge big business that this industry really is. Why? Corruption on both the Mexican and U.S. sides of the border.
Politically the U.S. formed the DEA, to fight the war on drugs. But that soon turned into a stat keeping exercise, with small drug deals being constantly busted to keep the stats up, and all the while having corrupt Mexican informants feeding them information.
The was on drugs was decided a long time ago. The U.S. lost.
The American CIA even intervened in multiples cases to prevent investigations from proceeding too far, as they were protecting the real situation, one involving billions and billions of dollars which in many cases fed money for CIA operations around the world, without leaving much, or any footprint.
The Mexican cartels leaders , and their narcotraficantes, and hit men keep the drugs flowing, and along with it the immense profits from them over the years (starting in around the 1970's) using murder and torture, and outright brutality to keep things as they wanted them to be. No one dared talk about the realities, or if they did, they and probably their families ended up dead. The same violence happened on the U.S. side of the border also.
Having spent time visiting El Paso, TX, and looking across the border (the Rio Grande river) to Juarez, Mexico you can feel this level of corruption and violence, but you can never really see it. That is by design of the corruption on the part of the Mexican and American governments.
The people who really run the drug trafficking industry stay on the down low, and don't want to be known. They also make sure that no one tells anyone about it, whether the media or law enforcement. you talk, you die, and often in a very bad way.
So, we still have massive amounts of heroin and other opioids , cocaine, meth, and pot filling the U.S. from one corner to the other. All because of the really big money involved in the smuggling, distribution, and sale of it.
It really seems like a permanent condition and situation now.
The author took 7 years to write this book, really trying to get it as right as he could, given that the Mexican drug industry, supported by influential Mexican families,and high Mexican government officials, and the U.S. Government constantly trying not to really address the overall huge big business that this industry really is. Why? Corruption on both the Mexican and U.S. sides of the border.
Politically the U.S. formed the DEA, to fight the war on drugs. But that soon turned into a stat keeping exercise, with small drug deals being constantly busted to keep the stats up, and all the while having corrupt Mexican informants feeding them information.
The was on drugs was decided a long time ago. The U.S. lost.
The American CIA even intervened in multiples cases to prevent investigations from proceeding too far, as they were protecting the real situation, one involving billions and billions of dollars which in many cases fed money for CIA operations around the world, without leaving much, or any footprint.
The Mexican cartels leaders , and their narcotraficantes, and hit men keep the drugs flowing, and along with it the immense profits from them over the years (starting in around the 1970's) using murder and torture, and outright brutality to keep things as they wanted them to be. No one dared talk about the realities, or if they did, they and probably their families ended up dead. The same violence happened on the U.S. side of the border also.
Having spent time visiting El Paso, TX, and looking across the border (the Rio Grande river) to Juarez, Mexico you can feel this level of corruption and violence, but you can never really see it. That is by design of the corruption on the part of the Mexican and American governments.
The people who really run the drug trafficking industry stay on the down low, and don't want to be known. They also make sure that no one tells anyone about it, whether the media or law enforcement. you talk, you die, and often in a very bad way.
So, we still have massive amounts of heroin and other opioids , cocaine, meth, and pot filling the U.S. from one corner to the other. All because of the really big money involved in the smuggling, distribution, and sale of it.
It really seems like a permanent condition and situation now.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 26, 2014
Charles Bowden’s Down by the River is a sad and tragic account of what one might describe as a complete failure of justice. But, the story set forth in Bowden’s book is not simply about justice denied for one family. It is about a sad and tragic denial of justice for anyone and everyone remotely touched by the events that occurred in a K-Mart parking lot in El Paso back in 1995. It is a story that ultimately touches each and every one of us.
A riveting account that starts with the murder of Lionel Bruno Jordan, Down by the River takes the reader on a journey that follows an ever-expanding circular path away from Bruno’s murder. It introduces the reader to his family and friends and expands from there until the reader meets ever-increasingly important people within what are justifiably described as two corrupt governments, “one called the United States and the other Mexico”.
Having read Down by the River, it is plainly obvious that Bowden not only researched this book, but lived every bit of it. He reports what he sees, but we know what he feels. I could not help but imagine, as I read this work, how difficult a task it must have been to have a front row seat to one family’s pain, never intervening (if that was even possible), but looking on as he witnessed its destruction while he poured that family’s pain onto the pages of what surely is an honest, respectful, and moving book.
Charles Bowden shines light upon the lies and deceptions that, specifically, describe the events surrounding a murder, but that, generally, describe what we have all come to know as the “war on drugs”. The phrase, though, is a euphemism. What is it a euphemism for? We may never truly know. Despite Bowden's light, the truth still eludes us. Bowden believes that only the dead know the truth. I think he may be right.
Down by the River was published twelve years ago, but it is a fascinating and emotional read that is relevant, even today. I’m wiser for having read it and it is my pleasure to have known the Jordan family, even if only through the pages of Bowden’s work.
A riveting account that starts with the murder of Lionel Bruno Jordan, Down by the River takes the reader on a journey that follows an ever-expanding circular path away from Bruno’s murder. It introduces the reader to his family and friends and expands from there until the reader meets ever-increasingly important people within what are justifiably described as two corrupt governments, “one called the United States and the other Mexico”.
Having read Down by the River, it is plainly obvious that Bowden not only researched this book, but lived every bit of it. He reports what he sees, but we know what he feels. I could not help but imagine, as I read this work, how difficult a task it must have been to have a front row seat to one family’s pain, never intervening (if that was even possible), but looking on as he witnessed its destruction while he poured that family’s pain onto the pages of what surely is an honest, respectful, and moving book.
Charles Bowden shines light upon the lies and deceptions that, specifically, describe the events surrounding a murder, but that, generally, describe what we have all come to know as the “war on drugs”. The phrase, though, is a euphemism. What is it a euphemism for? We may never truly know. Despite Bowden's light, the truth still eludes us. Bowden believes that only the dead know the truth. I think he may be right.
Down by the River was published twelve years ago, but it is a fascinating and emotional read that is relevant, even today. I’m wiser for having read it and it is my pleasure to have known the Jordan family, even if only through the pages of Bowden’s work.
April 5, 2009
Families, obsession, and murder against the backdrop of a larger clandestine world of drugs, cartels, narcotraficantes, murdered, tortured people, disappeared people, lies, corruption and the elusiveness of truth, justice and sanity. Told artfully, I found the story compelling but the literary style of the author was difficult to follow. I had to re-read a lot, backtrack and struggle to keep all the pieces of the story flowing although, this was probably intentional, it's just that some shards didn't go anywhere or fit at times. I think I understand the author's intention but it was still a struggle. Best line was about the onion and how all the layers get peeled away until all that's left are these onion pieces that deny it was ever an onion. That really sums up the book for me.
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January 27, 2013Was pleasantly surprised at this book, especially Bowden's writing style, that almost seems screenplay-ish. It kept you engrossed and wanted to know what would happen next in the smaller of the two subplots. I liked Bowden's use of the murder and investigations following against the larger plot and exploration of Mexican drugpins along the US and Mexico border.
January 24, 2015
I'm probably just not cool enough, but I couldn't stand the writing in this book. The story seemed interesting, but I didn't want to spend the time slogging through the extraneous detail and half of the time I felt like I didn't know what was going on.
April 27, 2014
I don't doubt the story is interesting, but I couldn't get past the authors writing style. The writing is so dry I felt like I was reading a 300 page news article.
May 14, 2023
IN 1995 PATRICIA IS WAITING TO PICK UP HER FIANCE BRUNO. HE WORKS AT THE ALL MENS WAREHOUSE AND HIS BOSS MARIA WHO IS GOING TO MARRY HIS COUSIN ASKED HIM TO TAKE HER TRUCK TO THE KMART. HE HAS HIS CO WORKER ISREAL FOLLOW HIM. BRUNO AND PATRICIA WERE SUPPOSED TO GO STRAIGHT TO THE HOSPITAL WHERE HIS FAMILY IS WAITING FOR HIM. HIS GRANDMOTHER IS ON HER DEATHBED AND THEYVE ALL COME TO PAY THEIR RESPECTS. HE DROPS OFF THE CAR AND IS THEN SHOT BUT A KID. THEIR ARE SEVERAL WITNESS. THE KID THAT WORKS IN THE STORE. WHO SAW THE GUNMAN WHEN HE WAS ON THE PAYPHONE. THE GIRL AND HER AUNT THAT ROLLED INTO THE PARKING LOT AROUND THE SAME TIME. THE NIECE GETS OUT OF THE CAR AND RUNS TO HELP BRUNO. AND ISRAEL HEARD THE SHOT, DRIVES DOWN THE PARKING LOT AND THEN CIRCLES BACK AROUND TO BRUNO. SOMEONE CALLS MARIA AND SHE GOES OUT FRONT TO TELL PATRICIA WHAT HAPPENED. WHEN PHIL THE OLDEST BROTHER GETS WORD OF THE SHOOTING HE BOOKS A FLIGHT TO EL PASO FROM DALLAS. HE CALLS HIS 2 OLDER KIDS SEAN AND BRIDGITT FROM HIS FIRST MARRIAGE. PHIL THINKS THE SHOOTING IS RELATED TO HIM. HE HAS BEEN WORKING FOR THE DEA FOR YEARS, HE RUNS EPIC. BACK IN 1994 AN INFORMANT AND HIS 2 SONS WERE KILLED AND LEFT ON THE JUAREZ/EL PASO BRIDGE. NEITHER WOULD TAKE ON THE INVESTIGATION OR CLAIM JURISDITION. PHIL KNEW THE MAN AND AFTER THE KILLING HER NEVER CALLED HIS FAMILY OR ANYONE IN CONNECTION. PHIL HAD BEEN GATHERING INFORMATION AND GETTING PEOPLE TO CALL HIM AND TIP HIM OFF. HE ONCE GOT A CALL FROM THE AIRPORT. GUY HAS $28 MILLION ON HIM IN DUFFELL BAGS. HE GOT A CALL FROM CIA AND HIGHER OFFICIALS. THEY TOLD HIM TO LET THE GUY GO, HE HAD CONNECTIONS TO THE MEDELLIN CARTEL. MARIA TELLS JORDAN THAT HER EXBOYFRIEND IS INVOLVED WITH A CAR THEFT RING. MHEY MISTOOK BRUINO FOR HIM. BRUNOS BROTHER TONY USED TO LIVE IN JUAREZ. HE WAS A FAMOUS SINGER HITTING UP ALL THE CLUBS. A GUY HE WENT TO SCHOOL WITH IS NOW THE BOSSES #2 MAN. TONY PLANS TO GET ANSWERS. SO GO AFTER THE PERSON BEHIND THE 13YO KID THAT MURDERED HIS BROTHER. SAL AND SUZIE ARE AT THE FUNERAL, SAL IS A COUSIN AND CANNOT UNDERSTAND HOW BRUNO IS DEAD. MARIA MOVES AWAY TO PHOENIX WITH HER NEW HUSBAND. PHIL GOES TO SEE HER 3 WEEKS LATER AND SHE ACTS LIKE SHE DOESN'T REMEMBER ANYTHING ABOUT THE MURDER. WHEN PHIL GOES BACK TO THE COPS IN EL PASO THEY HAVE A REPORT FROM MARIA CLAIMING THAT PHIL IS HARASSING HER. PHIL GETS THE GO AHEAD AND OFFER THE 13YO TO DROP ALL CHAGES, NEW IDS, MIVE HIS FAMILY TO U.S. AND THEY BECOME CITIZENS. THE 13YO REFUSES THE OFFER. PHIL GOES TO MEXICO TO TALK TO THE LIDS MOTHER, SHE SAYS SHE WILL TALK TO HER ABOUT THE DEAL. HE GIVES HER $20 FOR BUS FARE, SHE INSISTED THAT HER SON WAS INNOCENT AND WIRKING FOR MARIAS EX BOYFRIEND. THE MEXCAN CONSALTE SAYS NO TO DEAL AND THAT THE KID IS INNOCENT. THE KID IS FOUND GUILTY.
PHIL IS THINKING ABOUT HIS GRANDFATHER. EUGENE PAPA NONO, FROM ITALY. HE OWNED A PAWNSHOP AND ALL HIS KIDS HAD THEIR OWN BUSINESS IN EL PASO. THEY ALL LIVED ON THE SAME BLOCK. HIS GRANDFATHER RAN THE FAMILY. INSTEAD OF LAW SCHOOL PHILIP JOINS DEA IN 1965. HES MARRIED TO MARY FROM SOUTH DAKOTA AND HIS 1ST SON IS BORN. PHIL IS TRAINED BY FERNANDO. SHIWING HIM HOW TO BUY AND SELL DRUGS. EATLY ON IN HIS CAREER PHIL AND FERNANDI BUY HEROIN FROM PEDRO PEREZ AVILES. PHIL TOOK OUT A PERSONAL LOAN FOR $500K. THE DEA WAS JUST GETTING STARTED. IN 1969 THEIR BUDGET WAS $750K BUT BY 1976 ITS $10 MIL. AVILES PUTS A HIT OUT ON PHIL FOR $10K. AFTER HIS BUST ON AVILES RANCH. PHIL MADE FRIENDS WITH ANOTHER DEA AGENT KIKI CAMERENA. KIKI AND HIS PILOT WERE TORTURED TO DEATH. THE U.S. SHUT DOWN THE BORDER UNTIL THE FOUND THEIR BODIES A MONTH LATER. KIKI HAD FOUND A CONECTION NETWEEN THE CIA, THE DRUG BUSINESS, AND THE CONTRA WAR IN NICARAGUA. SEVEN TAPES WERE MADE OF THE TORTURE. THEY ARRESTED RAFAEL CARO QUINTERO IS SENTENCED TO 92 YEARS, FELIX GALLARDO SENTENCED TO 40 YEARS, AND ERNESTO FONSECA CARRILLO WAS FOUND WITH A TAPE. IN JULY 1995 THE OLDER BROTHER OF MIGUEL ANGEL IS FOUND DEAD IN THE RIVER. THEN THE GUY IN CHARGE OF THE STREET GANGS IS DEAD. 23 ROUNDS IN HIS HEAD. THE KIDS FROM THE MURDER DISAPPEAR. THE BROTHER IS NOT ON THE LIST OF FOUND BODIES FROM THE RIVER. MIGUEL ANGEL WAS FOUND ON THE STREETS AT 9YO. HE STAYED WITH 2 DIFFERENT WOMAN HE CALLED SISTERS HELEN AND FLORI. THEY FIND MIGUEL ANGELS MOTHER IN ANOTHER TOWN. HER HUSBAND TRUED TO KILL HER. SHE TELLS ABOUT THE MEXCAN POLICE COMING LOOKING FOR HER WHEN HER SON WAS ARRESTED. THEN THE DEA CAME FOR HER. THEN THE MEXICAN CONSULATE PAID FOR HER OTHER SONS FUNERAL. THE ONE THAT DROWNED. ON NOVEMBER OF '95 A DUTCH WOMAN NAMED HEIDI WAS ONCE A LOVER TO AMADO CARILLO NOW SHE FINDS WOMAN FOR HIM. SHE IS CLOSE FRIEND TO PHOLS AUNT CONSUELO. THE ONE WHO INWS A RESTRAUNT THAT CATERED BRUNOS FUNERAL. ONE DAY SHE TAKES A CAB TO THE AIRPORT. THE FEDERAL POLICE STOP THE CAR. A DAY LATER THE CABBIES BODY IS FOUND. HEIDI IS NEVER FOUND. IN JULY OF 1997 CARILLO IS DEAD. FROM A SUPPOSED BOTCHED.PLASTIC SURGERY. CONNECTIONS ARE BEING REVEALED AND PHILS SISTERS EX FAMILY THE ZARAGOSAS NAME POPS UP. CARILLOS SUCCESSOR WILL BE EDUARDO GONZALES QUIEARTE. A KID WHO WENT TO SCHOOL WITH THE JORDANS. IN 1999 EDUARDO IS SHOT GOES INTO A COMA BUT HIS FRIENDS TAKE HIM OUT OF THE HOSPITAL AND HE VANISHES. EDUARDOS BROTHER RENE GOT INTO DRUGS HE WAS AN ENGINEER IN GUADALAJARA. HE ENDS UP DEAD IN JANUARY OF 2000. COUSIN SAL IS WEARING AN ANKLE BRACELET 1995. HE HAD A CONTRACT FOR A HIT ON THE 13YO KILLER. HE GETS ARRESTED. SAL IS ANTONIOS NEPHEW. BRUNOS 1ST COUSIN. DEA ALSO. IN NOVEMBER OF 1999 THEY FOUND THE MASS GRAVES IN JUAREZ. THE 13YO MURDERER IS REALEASED. HE IS WORKING FOR THE CARTEL AND RISING IN THE RANKS.
PHIL IS THINKING ABOUT HIS GRANDFATHER. EUGENE PAPA NONO, FROM ITALY. HE OWNED A PAWNSHOP AND ALL HIS KIDS HAD THEIR OWN BUSINESS IN EL PASO. THEY ALL LIVED ON THE SAME BLOCK. HIS GRANDFATHER RAN THE FAMILY. INSTEAD OF LAW SCHOOL PHILIP JOINS DEA IN 1965. HES MARRIED TO MARY FROM SOUTH DAKOTA AND HIS 1ST SON IS BORN. PHIL IS TRAINED BY FERNANDO. SHIWING HIM HOW TO BUY AND SELL DRUGS. EATLY ON IN HIS CAREER PHIL AND FERNANDI BUY HEROIN FROM PEDRO PEREZ AVILES. PHIL TOOK OUT A PERSONAL LOAN FOR $500K. THE DEA WAS JUST GETTING STARTED. IN 1969 THEIR BUDGET WAS $750K BUT BY 1976 ITS $10 MIL. AVILES PUTS A HIT OUT ON PHIL FOR $10K. AFTER HIS BUST ON AVILES RANCH. PHIL MADE FRIENDS WITH ANOTHER DEA AGENT KIKI CAMERENA. KIKI AND HIS PILOT WERE TORTURED TO DEATH. THE U.S. SHUT DOWN THE BORDER UNTIL THE FOUND THEIR BODIES A MONTH LATER. KIKI HAD FOUND A CONECTION NETWEEN THE CIA, THE DRUG BUSINESS, AND THE CONTRA WAR IN NICARAGUA. SEVEN TAPES WERE MADE OF THE TORTURE. THEY ARRESTED RAFAEL CARO QUINTERO IS SENTENCED TO 92 YEARS, FELIX GALLARDO SENTENCED TO 40 YEARS, AND ERNESTO FONSECA CARRILLO WAS FOUND WITH A TAPE. IN JULY 1995 THE OLDER BROTHER OF MIGUEL ANGEL IS FOUND DEAD IN THE RIVER. THEN THE GUY IN CHARGE OF THE STREET GANGS IS DEAD. 23 ROUNDS IN HIS HEAD. THE KIDS FROM THE MURDER DISAPPEAR. THE BROTHER IS NOT ON THE LIST OF FOUND BODIES FROM THE RIVER. MIGUEL ANGEL WAS FOUND ON THE STREETS AT 9YO. HE STAYED WITH 2 DIFFERENT WOMAN HE CALLED SISTERS HELEN AND FLORI. THEY FIND MIGUEL ANGELS MOTHER IN ANOTHER TOWN. HER HUSBAND TRUED TO KILL HER. SHE TELLS ABOUT THE MEXCAN POLICE COMING LOOKING FOR HER WHEN HER SON WAS ARRESTED. THEN THE DEA CAME FOR HER. THEN THE MEXICAN CONSULATE PAID FOR HER OTHER SONS FUNERAL. THE ONE THAT DROWNED. ON NOVEMBER OF '95 A DUTCH WOMAN NAMED HEIDI WAS ONCE A LOVER TO AMADO CARILLO NOW SHE FINDS WOMAN FOR HIM. SHE IS CLOSE FRIEND TO PHOLS AUNT CONSUELO. THE ONE WHO INWS A RESTRAUNT THAT CATERED BRUNOS FUNERAL. ONE DAY SHE TAKES A CAB TO THE AIRPORT. THE FEDERAL POLICE STOP THE CAR. A DAY LATER THE CABBIES BODY IS FOUND. HEIDI IS NEVER FOUND. IN JULY OF 1997 CARILLO IS DEAD. FROM A SUPPOSED BOTCHED.PLASTIC SURGERY. CONNECTIONS ARE BEING REVEALED AND PHILS SISTERS EX FAMILY THE ZARAGOSAS NAME POPS UP. CARILLOS SUCCESSOR WILL BE EDUARDO GONZALES QUIEARTE. A KID WHO WENT TO SCHOOL WITH THE JORDANS. IN 1999 EDUARDO IS SHOT GOES INTO A COMA BUT HIS FRIENDS TAKE HIM OUT OF THE HOSPITAL AND HE VANISHES. EDUARDOS BROTHER RENE GOT INTO DRUGS HE WAS AN ENGINEER IN GUADALAJARA. HE ENDS UP DEAD IN JANUARY OF 2000. COUSIN SAL IS WEARING AN ANKLE BRACELET 1995. HE HAD A CONTRACT FOR A HIT ON THE 13YO KILLER. HE GETS ARRESTED. SAL IS ANTONIOS NEPHEW. BRUNOS 1ST COUSIN. DEA ALSO. IN NOVEMBER OF 1999 THEY FOUND THE MASS GRAVES IN JUAREZ. THE 13YO MURDERER IS REALEASED. HE IS WORKING FOR THE CARTEL AND RISING IN THE RANKS.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 1, 2017
In 1995 Lionel Bruno Jordan was killed in a carjacking in El Paso, Texas. It triggered a chain of madness within the family, according to author Charles Bowden. From that murder came the descent into gambling addiction, divorce and madness on the part of his elder brother Philip who had retired from the DEA as head of EPIC and the destruction of his cousin Sal’s DEA career and conviction for murder-for-hire.
This is a gothic tragedy writ large in heavy-handed prose that leans heavily on innuendo and conspiracy theories to trace the chain of events. As Phil loses everything to his obsession to bring his brother’s killer to justice, author Bowden throws in random, gruesome, unsettling anecdotes from the narco world. After awhile, I felt the prose was so oppressive and sensationalized that I too would be joining the characters on their journey to the emotional pits of hell.
The author documents most of his quotes, but he lets Phil’s accusations of corruption and collusion with the Juárez cartel on the part of top American officials slide into the narrative without any supporting evidence. The order to ruin Sal, rants Phil, came from then attorney general Janet Reno and the heads of the FBI and the DEA in order to shut him up from speaking the truth on the war on narco-traffickers. Thus, these accusations remain in the land of ranting rather than become a subject worth deeper examination. Yet these are serious accusations, if true.
For this reason I found the book didn’t add anything useful to the current policy debate or critique. Instead, it remains a family’s personal tragedy written in an almost unreadable style á la Glenn Beck and his infamous conspiracy diagrams.
This is a gothic tragedy writ large in heavy-handed prose that leans heavily on innuendo and conspiracy theories to trace the chain of events. As Phil loses everything to his obsession to bring his brother’s killer to justice, author Bowden throws in random, gruesome, unsettling anecdotes from the narco world. After awhile, I felt the prose was so oppressive and sensationalized that I too would be joining the characters on their journey to the emotional pits of hell.
The author documents most of his quotes, but he lets Phil’s accusations of corruption and collusion with the Juárez cartel on the part of top American officials slide into the narrative without any supporting evidence. The order to ruin Sal, rants Phil, came from then attorney general Janet Reno and the heads of the FBI and the DEA in order to shut him up from speaking the truth on the war on narco-traffickers. Thus, these accusations remain in the land of ranting rather than become a subject worth deeper examination. Yet these are serious accusations, if true.
For this reason I found the book didn’t add anything useful to the current policy debate or critique. Instead, it remains a family’s personal tragedy written in an almost unreadable style á la Glenn Beck and his infamous conspiracy diagrams.
October 5, 2020
Sad story of a family involved in the drug cartels- on both sides of the law and their obsession with getting justice/revenge for the murder of a family member that was never even seriously investigated. A disheartening look at the "War on Drugs" and the challenges- near impossibility of stopping movement of drugs, and the reasons why. Unfavorable images of DEA, CIA, FBI, Mexican govt, etc efforts & commitment to stop the flow of drugs.
On the other hand- way to many bits of stories & names of druglords & others who are only peripherally important to the story, but did give a bleak image of crime in Juarez/El Paso. And the narrative jumped around in time. I liked his abrupt style of writing, but the combo of too many names & times jumping around was too much for me.
This was a book I had to read in small bits, & I did skip some parts- mostly about different cartel leaders, but I'm glad I read it.
On the other hand- way to many bits of stories & names of druglords & others who are only peripherally important to the story, but did give a bleak image of crime in Juarez/El Paso. And the narrative jumped around in time. I liked his abrupt style of writing, but the combo of too many names & times jumping around was too much for me.
This was a book I had to read in small bits, & I did skip some parts- mostly about different cartel leaders, but I'm glad I read it.
June 12, 2017
Maybe a better title for this book would be - Down by the River: futility, collusion, greed and waste.
In this book is a 400+ lesson in just how messed up the so called "War on drugs" is. There is no competing with human greed and institutionalized corruption - on both sides of the border and in both the public and private sectors (hello C-bank! launder drug money much?).
Ultimately - if we stop the demand for drugs in the US, we could stop much of these problems related to supply. It is truly astonishing how much the American public demands in terms of drugs.
The author's written style takes some getting used to as he jumps from subject to subject and often starts the sections in ways that are not immediately clear. Framing the story around an unsolved murder suits the story as well - futility, futility, futility.
In this book is a 400+ lesson in just how messed up the so called "War on drugs" is. There is no competing with human greed and institutionalized corruption - on both sides of the border and in both the public and private sectors (hello C-bank! launder drug money much?).
Ultimately - if we stop the demand for drugs in the US, we could stop much of these problems related to supply. It is truly astonishing how much the American public demands in terms of drugs.
The author's written style takes some getting used to as he jumps from subject to subject and often starts the sections in ways that are not immediately clear. Framing the story around an unsolved murder suits the story as well - futility, futility, futility.
July 28, 2019
Definitely a gonzo journalism book, both the good and the bad. Commitment to the story is incredible, but there are times when (for me) it was simply too much information.
One thing comes through clearly though: the corruption in Mexico is universal, and the money that feeds that corruption comes from the America's thirst for drugs. Solution? Who knows. I live in Seattle where heroin use is ignored by the police. Giving individual users a pass is the "liberal" way of doing things. But how much of the money spent to buy that heroin ends up buying guns in Mexico? How much is used to bribe judges? Compassion here leads to murder there.
One thing comes through clearly though: the corruption in Mexico is universal, and the money that feeds that corruption comes from the America's thirst for drugs. Solution? Who knows. I live in Seattle where heroin use is ignored by the police. Giving individual users a pass is the "liberal" way of doing things. But how much of the money spent to buy that heroin ends up buying guns in Mexico? How much is used to bribe judges? Compassion here leads to murder there.
December 26, 2023
At times as I was reading this I thought I was reading a fantasy novel. The story is so amazing yet this is non-fiction and the events described are well documented with footnotes. "Drugs, Money, Murder, and Family" is the subtitle and the book covers all of these in a recounting of the murder of an El Paso citizen and the efforts of his family to seek justice. Bowden uncovers the real world of narco-politics, the corruption and cruelty that is employed to control the narco-businesses, and the failures of the two governments to do much about it. Too bad. Mexico is a wonderful country but suffers from a serious defect with a cost of random acts of violence and many lives.
February 27, 2024
I couldn’t decide whether to give this book five stars or one star; certainly nothing in between. I grew up 50 miles north of the border with Juarez and the reality of the poverty of Mexico was apparent with every trip to El Paso or Juarez. I was oblivious to what was building up, simmering in that poverty and then eventually going up in an inferno of deaths and disappearances. This book destroyed my world view and I’m better for it. The facts, however unpalatable, are better than ignorance. A must read for those with ties to the border and/or with concerns about what the border is or is not.
July 1, 2017
Pretty good book about the Juarez cartel and it’s effect on the city of El Paso especially on the family of Bruno Jordan whose brother was a DEA agent. Pretty good details on the Juarez cartel and the corruption of politics in Mexico but the Bruno family story tends to hop in and out of the story and the story has a tendency to bounce around and not keep on the straight and narrow.
July 25, 2019
The information in this book is definitely eye opening. The power wielding of the drug cartels, the corruption of the Mexican government plus the corruption in the DEA and other law enforcement agencies made me keep reading. It drags at places and I needed a list of characters to help me remember who is who.
December 7, 2019
I was extremely disappointed in this book. The book was very hard to follow and subjects changed from one paragraph to the next. Murder of Bruno Jordan was left hanging and no resolution was mentioned. The main thing I enjoyed was the mention of areas I knew from El Paso. I would not recommend this read.
January 11, 2020
Bowden’s research is faultless to the point that it sometimes becomes monotonous. He is a talented writer whose work is woven together in an interesting manner but which is sometimes difficult to follow. I had no idea how rampant the drug trade is between Mexico and the US, or how embedded it is within the US government. Scary!
October 23, 2022
This book has so much information but it reads like journal where memories are scattered all out of order. The dates and years have no structure and presidential periods and government rulings jump around in no particular order.
January 16, 2020
Amazing and sad. :/
April 23, 2021
Very long but incredibly informative.
July 7, 2021
As a prosecutor, reading this book is disheartening.
August 29, 2023
Story of the drug cartel.
June 9, 2013
Brutal, intense, dark. Bowden writes very passionately. I find the way he writes fascinating--this read more like literary fiction than non-fiction to me, especially in the sections about the family. When describing their experiences, he adopts a very close point of view, writing from their perspective, almost as if they were characters in a novel. I found this blending of non-fiction material with fictional techniques fascinating.
Focusing on a family and their reaction to a brutal murder is a very clever entry point for Bowden to then go on and explore the development of the War on Drugs in Mexico. The latter part of that former snetence is a very simplistic summary of a very layered and complex book. Sure, the book is about drugs, money, murder, and family, but it's also about the U.S. government's complicity in terms of letting Mexico be a narco state. About the rise and fall of one of the top narcos in Mexico. About the rise and fall of a top DEA agent. Or in Bowden's own words, "the story can be about not having a story, about not understanding, about simply accepting a kitten whose name shifts as some kind of consciousness flows from a place beyond simple knowing or telling." (391) I found this emphasis throughout the book on the impossibility of understanding or of ever getting close to the truth deeply intriguing. The book is very clever in that it sets itself up as this classic suspense who-dunnit book. As readers, we want to keep reading because we want to see how the investigation develop (like in Francisco Goldman's "Who Killed the Bishop?" or any John Grisham novel); we want to see what kind of conclusions are arrived at--we keep reading because we want to know what happens next. The clever thing about this book is that NOTHING HAPPENS NEXT. The investigation stalls, withers, dies. No big leads or stunning truths are revealed (that is not to say that there aren't unexpected twists or turns in the book). Instead, everything dwindles into a stalled silence that Bowden sees as indicative of what he calls "a theory of the life of truth in Mexico": "I decided it went through three phases: what happened; then, the fantastic tales that erupt to deal with what happened; and then, always, this final phase in which it never happened at all." This book spends most of its time in the third stage, in a stalled limbo. As a result the narrative stalls as well but it's a testament to the strength of Bowden's writing that I kept reading.
I think my favorite passage in the book was the one describing an incident in which a bag of cocaine fell out of an airplane and landed in a remote indigenous village, who used the powder to mark up their soccer field (almost too crazy to be believed!). Or the descriptions of how the drug trade developed like a capitalist business. Definitely made me want to watch "The Wire" again, or even "Boardwalk Empire."
The book ran a little long for me (you can tell that Bowden spent 7 years researching it) and at times I would zone out and stop keeping track of who was who, but honestly one can't complain; you gotta give Bowden props for his drive and ambition. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone seeking to gain a better understanding of the so-called War in Drugs in Mexico--I say "so-called" because there's a great scene in this book in which someone flatly tells Bowden, "The war is over. You lost."
In summary, this is some real Cormac McCarthy bleak shit, exploration of human evil and darkness and degradation of the human soil, etc. It will make you feel super dirty, depressed and sick to your stomach. A commendably compelling read.
Focusing on a family and their reaction to a brutal murder is a very clever entry point for Bowden to then go on and explore the development of the War on Drugs in Mexico. The latter part of that former snetence is a very simplistic summary of a very layered and complex book. Sure, the book is about drugs, money, murder, and family, but it's also about the U.S. government's complicity in terms of letting Mexico be a narco state. About the rise and fall of one of the top narcos in Mexico. About the rise and fall of a top DEA agent. Or in Bowden's own words, "the story can be about not having a story, about not understanding, about simply accepting a kitten whose name shifts as some kind of consciousness flows from a place beyond simple knowing or telling." (391) I found this emphasis throughout the book on the impossibility of understanding or of ever getting close to the truth deeply intriguing. The book is very clever in that it sets itself up as this classic suspense who-dunnit book. As readers, we want to keep reading because we want to see how the investigation develop (like in Francisco Goldman's "Who Killed the Bishop?" or any John Grisham novel); we want to see what kind of conclusions are arrived at--we keep reading because we want to know what happens next. The clever thing about this book is that NOTHING HAPPENS NEXT. The investigation stalls, withers, dies. No big leads or stunning truths are revealed (that is not to say that there aren't unexpected twists or turns in the book). Instead, everything dwindles into a stalled silence that Bowden sees as indicative of what he calls "a theory of the life of truth in Mexico": "I decided it went through three phases: what happened; then, the fantastic tales that erupt to deal with what happened; and then, always, this final phase in which it never happened at all." This book spends most of its time in the third stage, in a stalled limbo. As a result the narrative stalls as well but it's a testament to the strength of Bowden's writing that I kept reading.
I think my favorite passage in the book was the one describing an incident in which a bag of cocaine fell out of an airplane and landed in a remote indigenous village, who used the powder to mark up their soccer field (almost too crazy to be believed!). Or the descriptions of how the drug trade developed like a capitalist business. Definitely made me want to watch "The Wire" again, or even "Boardwalk Empire."
The book ran a little long for me (you can tell that Bowden spent 7 years researching it) and at times I would zone out and stop keeping track of who was who, but honestly one can't complain; you gotta give Bowden props for his drive and ambition. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone seeking to gain a better understanding of the so-called War in Drugs in Mexico--I say "so-called" because there's a great scene in this book in which someone flatly tells Bowden, "The war is over. You lost."
In summary, this is some real Cormac McCarthy bleak shit, exploration of human evil and darkness and degradation of the human soil, etc. It will make you feel super dirty, depressed and sick to your stomach. A commendably compelling read.
January 7, 2018
everything u ever wanted to know about the alleged War on Drugs, Mexico/USA......
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