Life Imitating Art

Novel number two, AT RANDOM, featured the antagonist "El Moro," a white-skinned drug smuggler born in Tampico to a Caucasian merchant marine father and a Mexican mother.  El Moro was invaluable to the cartel because his color and perfect English allowed him to deliver drugs in the U.S. without raising suspicions. Shortly after AT RANDOM was published, drug kingpin "La Barbie" was arrested near Mexico City.  "La Barbie" was a white U.S. citizen born in a Laredo suburb who moved to Mexico and used his white skin and bilingual skills to rocket to the top of one of the principal drug cartels.  Novel number three, THE RIDE ALONG, featured a violent, gun-smuggling Cuban named "Brujo" who used Santa Muerte hexes and rituals to control his ruthless gang in New Orleans.  Today the story broke that four dozen decapitated and dismembered bodies were dumped along a highway south of the Mexican border.  Many of the victims had Santa Muerte tatoos and talismans.  William and I just published novel number 5, ATMOSPHERE OF VIOLENCE, which involves a bloody confrontation between a white supremacist outlaw biker gang and a black Muslim militia trained in warfare at a commune in rural Mississippi.  Be sure to keep an eye on your favorite news sources to see if AOV foreshadows real-life.  Like David Dunne always says, "you never know."