God's middle finger: into the lawless heart of the Sierra Madre

I would like to share my perception of a book I recently read, which on occasion made me blink my eyes about thirty times in absolute disbelief. The book I am talking about is called God's middle finger, and that is precisely the name the area the book reports about deserves, especially considering the fact that the book is a factual travelling story by the British author Richard Grant, who currently lives in Arizona, USA.

Mister Grant at one point in his life decided he wanted to visit the Sierra Madre in Mexico, an area filled with drugs, and where murder is as he states 'the national sport'. He wrote a book on it, in which he tries to explain in detail what he saw there. He did a terribly good job describing the tension that constantly defines the atmosphere in the remote Sierra Madre desert.

What struck me was how incredibly tough the drug dealers in the area are. They actually kill purely because they can and rape girls because they know the girls will never report to the police, since the police are mainly corrupt and bribed by the drug mafia. Moreover, the girl will probably be raped by the police too because they get aroused by the dreadful stories she tells. Trespassers in the area are likely to be raped in the most gruesome manner and afterwards will probably be killed and left to be eaten by the wild animals that inhabit the area.

All this seemed to me to be the perfect scenery for a horror movie, but the facts are there: these weird and terrible things actually do happen in the Sierra Madre, and the government will not address the problem because the drugs in the area provide for more than fifty percent of the national income of Mexico. Thank God that he has pointed his middle finger in the direction of the Sierra Madre and not ours, is all I can say.