Sam Hawken began his literary journey in the lands between the United States and Mexico. Nominated for multiple Crime Writers’ Association Dagger awards, these novels formed the definitive core of Hawken’s work.
Critically acclaimed. Internationally bestselling. Unforgettable.
The Dead Women of Juárez
Since 1993 over 500 women have been murdered in Ciudad Juárez.Residents believe the true number of disappeared stands at 5,000.
When a new disappearance is reported, Kelly Courter, a washed-up Texan boxer, and Rafael Sevilla, a Mexican detective, are sucked into an underworld of organised crime, believing they can outwit the corruption all around.
The Dead Women of Juárez follows these two men obsessed with seeking the truth about the female victims of the Mexican border wars.
Tequila Sunset
El Paso and Ciudad Juárez sit across the Texas/Mexico border from each other. They share streets, share industry, share crime. One gang claims territory in both: Barrio Azteca. This single criminal organization is responsible for most of the homicides committed in Juarez.
Recruited in prison, and now on the streets of El Paso, Felipe “Flip” Morales has no choice but to step further into that world, but he has a secret that threatens his life. On the American side, El Paso detective Cristina Salas struggles to balance the needs of single motherhood with those of life in the city’s anti-gang unit. When her path crosses with Flip, their relationship will spell the difference between a life behind bars for the young gang member, a grisly death or freedom.
The Aztecas, north and south, have no qualms about crossing the line, about killing, about moving their deadly product, and it all comes together in a confrontation where the stakes are truly a matter of life and death.
Missing
Jack Searle is an American widower, bringing up his two stepdaughters alone in the border town of Laredo after losing his wife to cancer.
Jack often takes the girls to visit their Mexican family over the border in Nuevo Laredo. Marina, the elder sister, persuades him to let her go there without him one night, to attend a concert with her cousin Patricia. Jack wants to say no – the city is dangerous, but eventually he agrees – she’s growing up and he has to let her have some independence.
Marina and Patricia head out to the concert, but they never come back.
A frantic hunt for them begins, with Jack leading the way, but soon the whole police force is suspended due to endemic corruption. The army take over the city, and finding the missing girls is not their priority.
To survive this nightmare and have any chance of finding Marina and Patricia, Jack must take the law into his own hands.