Melchor follows two acclaimed novels--Hurricane Season and Paradais--with an equally impressive collection of essays.  Focusing on Veracruz and its outskirts, the volume chronicles the dark side of the city with pieces on crime and violence. In addition to diligent reporting, Melchor deploys ingenious language that digs below the surface; but the backbone of this work is the characters. As she does in her fiction, she gives us an empathetic view of lives whose inner workings we wouldn't otherwise know, in this case, those of various criminals and other disreputable figures--and the darkness that haunts them.