This is an incredible book.
The story takes place mainly inside a converted water truck that coyotes
use to smuggle migrants into the United States.
We meet Héctor, who acts as the narrator of the story. As the water truck trundles toward the
American border, something goes wrong with the engine. The truck is packed with migrants and
throughout the book, we realize the increasingly horrendous conditions within
the truck. They coyotes have left the
truck and promise to return with a mechanic.
As the book progresses, the reader quickly realizes that
what the coyotes have actually done is to abandon the truck and the migrants to
their fate. There is little hope of rescue as the area is desolate and few
people traverse the area. Héctor
narrates his story and that of his friend, César, who is also trapped in the
truck. Early in the novel, César is
knocked unconscious in a freak accident and Héctor vows to try to keep him
alive. César
has entrusted his cell phone to Héctor and, it is through this fragile
instrument, that the only lifeline may appear.
Héctor
finds one phone number that appears to be in the United States, and he
frantically messages an unknown person named AnniMac in the hopes that he, or
she, will get the messages and send help.
However, the bars on the phone are unpredictable and, although Héctor
diligently tries to communicate, it is unclear if the messages are getting
through.
Héctor begins to ruminate on his life and the series of
events that brought César and him to this precarious place. The last third of the book holds many secrets
that are revealed and the plot takes a twist.
In the times we live, this is a book that should be a must-read for
people interested in migrants and the migrant crises. The reader truly sees the migrants as human
beings trapped in an untenable situation and also explores what humans will do
to stay alive. It is a book that stays
with the reader long after the last page is read.
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