The Queen of the South

This was a Christmas present and after carting round all 623 page of it I'm a confirmed kindle girl. Perfect it ain't - and can anyone tell me what happens to my downloads after I die? - but it's now my preferred medium.

Anyway, I digress. The Queen of the South is the story of a fictional Mexican woman, Theresa Mendoza, who, after a hideous childhood, becomes the girlfriend of a drug trafficker.  She enjoys the good life but, when he is murdered, seemingly for creaming off a little extra profit during runs, the story starts. His death at the hands of a powerful drugs cartel alerts Mendoza to the danger she's now in. These people don't like loose ends, and Mendoza is a loose end.

Mendoza goes on the run with the reluctant help of a trusted godfather-like figure and manages to get to Spain where she gets a job in a bar. She also gets herself a new boyfriend, another trafficker, and ends up once again, a trafficker's moll.

Stung by her past, this time she gets involved in the business. She learns about the speedboat her boyfriend owns, how to maintain and drive it, and the territory, the cargo and players they deal with.

Almost inevitably this one also comes to a sticky end and Mendoza ends up in prison. Her cellmate is refined and well-educated and is the catalyst for Mendoza's return to the world of drugs when she is released but this time, she becomes a major player.

It came as no surprise to find out the author, Aurturo Perez-Reverte, was a journalist before he turned his hand to fiction. This story has been meticulously researched. I'm not always comfortable when male writers have female protagonists, or vice versa. Somehow, somewhere, it always seems to come slightly apart. In this case, there was no ambiguity. Undoubtedly the fact that Mendoza is a woman in a man's world helps. Sex scenes are kept to a minimum and Mendoza's femininity - of which there isn't a lot - is portrayed sartorially.

I read that Perez didn't want his books translated to English. I'm glad he lost that battle.