The Power of the Dog (urspr publ 2005; utgåvan 2006)

A long bloody tale of the trafficking of drugs through the southern border. Interesting reading with a mix of action, Mafia, prostitutes, CIA, drug cartels, corrupt government officials, etc. If half of the background information is true, we might as well make drugs legal and skip all the violence, because we are loosing the war on drugs! ( )

The Power of the Dog reads like the El Chapo Guzman—a real-life drug load—mini-series. Everything they say about it is right. It's explosive, realistic, and relentlessly detailed in the horrors that take place in our world every day. I know this is supposed to be a work of fiction, but unfortunately, I think the way heroin and cocaine are produced, distributed, and used to enslave millions in this world is all too true. A few get fabulously wealthy, thousands die, and addicts roam the streets. The characters are complex and tortured, and most of them play on both sides of the street. Art Keller is a dedicated officer, but is also complicit in mass murders, as are most of his colleagues. Adan and Raul Barrera, along with the other Mexican cartel lords are souless monsters. Even the corrupt officers and the military are nothing but ruthless murderers. What's truly disturbing is the innocents that get caught and sacrificed like flies while the good and bad guys duke it out. My favorite character is Sean Callan, the hit man from New York who gets caught up with the Mafia, and the DEA uses eventurally. He seems genuinely remorseful for his life-style, and that's more than you can say about most of the others. If this book is a study in nothing else, it clearly shows how the FBI, CIA, DEA, and others play an outrageous role in enabling the cartels to operate with impunity in third-world countries. However, if you can take all of that with a grain of salt, The Power of the Dog is a terrific read that will haunt you long after you've read the last page ( )

Wow. A thrill ride the whole way through. I can't recommend this and The Cartel enough. ( )

ESPECTACULAR novelón sobre la lucha contra la droga de los EE.UU. Esta novela es como los 100 años de soledad del narcomundo. Es una historia gigantesca que abarca 35 años y varios países, en la que se nos cuenta la evolución del narcotráfico mexicano hacia los EE.UU. y todas sus ramificaciones.
Lo que más me ha impresionado de la novela es su realismo. Es como leer un maldito libro de texto cuando habla de los campos de entrenamiento, de los asaltos a viviendas, de los asesinatos tanto por venganza como por negocios, de las rutas de la droga, de los capos de la droga, de la DEA, la CIA, los federales... es absolutamente brillante. Un libro que absorbe desde el primer minuto, cuando nos empieza a contar una escena apocalíptica que nos vuelve a contar bien avanzado el libro.
Las escenas de muerte son duras, sobre todo una de ellas, la maldita escena del puente, en la que la tensión se me hacía casi insoportable , pero reflejan un realismo que nos deja convencidos de que la vida real es muy, muy parecida a lo que se relata en este libro. Un diez. Qué maravilla. ( )

A Fantastic book anyone interested in The CIA and DEA involvement in Central and South America should read this brilliant book.
Is definitely on my To Read Again List. ( )