Saint Death
A Novel
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4.5 • 4 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A propulsive, compelling, and unsparing novel set in the grimly violent world of the human and drug trade on the US-Mexican border.
On the outskirts of Juarez, Arturo scrapes together a living working odd jobs and staying out of sight. But his friend Faustino is in trouble: he’s stolen money from the narcos to smuggle his girlfriend and her baby into the US, and needs Arturo's help to get it back. To help his friend, Arturo must face the remorseless world of drug and human traffickers that surrounds him, and contend with a murky past.
Hovering over his story is the unsparing divinity Santa Muerte, Saint Death—and the relentless economic and social inequalities that haunt the border between Mexico and its rich northern neighbor. Crafted with poetry and cinematic pace and narrated with cold fury, Saint Death is a provocative tour de force from three-time Printz Award honoree Marcus Sedgwick.
This title has Common Core connections.
A New York City Public Library Notable Best Book for Teens
A YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Book
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sedgwick (Blood Red Snow White) transports readers to the border city of Juarez in this grim study of the repercussions of U.S. policies and the market for narcotics on Mexico and its citizens. Arturo cobbles together a life in Anapra, "a little less than a shanty town," where he is visited by childhood friend Faustino, who has gotten mixed up with the deadly local gangs and is in desperate need of money. Arturo reluctantly agrees to put his gambling talents to the test in order to help his old friend, but it's a dangerous game, and it doesn't end well. Sedgwick interweaves the cruel realities of day-to-day existence in a desert landscape plagued by gang warfare where people vanish without notice and brutalized corpses appear just as suddenly with interspersed passages that address NAFTA and other relevant social context, as well as musings that revolve around Santa Muerte, "a folk saint, a rebel angel, a powerful divinity excommunicated from the Orthodox," to whom Arturo devotes himself. The novel's many tragedies feel all but inexorable, and Arturo's story will linger with readers. Ages 14 up.
