Read in Portuguese.
It was an easy read, fast-paced from the start.
The story is about a very bad decisions.
Overall, it's a good read. ( )

I almost didn't read this book. I picked it up at the library for the South American author square on book bingo, but then I finished two other books for that category, and the crime genre isn't really my thing. But isn't that what this challenge is about -- pushing boundaries? So, I read it.

I had a lot of feelings about this one, but then, I couldn't put it down. The main character seems to lack any kind of moral center, which of course snowballs him into a completely horrible situation that just seems to get worse and worse. I'm sure he'd think he didn't have any choices along the way, but as he drags more people down with him, one at a time, it becomes increasingly difficult to decide if you're rooting for him to get away with it or to end up executed on the side of some seldom-travelled road.

Some of the situations strained credulity, but really, what am I basing my expectations of Bolivian drug runners or rural Brazilian police on in the first place?

As I said, I don't read much crime fiction, so I don't know how this fares within the expectations of its genres. But different it was, and interesting. ( )