This is For the Mara Salvatrucha (NF 2009) - Samuel Logan

This is For the Mara Salvatrucha: Inside the MS-13, America’s Most Violent Gang - Samuel Logan

I put this book on my “To Read” list after reading about it in Publishers Weekly, hoping to gain some insight into how gangs work, especially the MS-13. The book does give some insight into the gang, most of it from the point of view of Brenda Paz, a former teen gang member who turned police informant. Rather than a full focus on the gang itself, the book is mostly Paz's story, one that is both gripping and horrifying.*

Paz desperately sought acceptance and friendship. We all do, only most of us have friends and family who provide those needs. When those needs are absent, young people are going to find someone to meet fill the void. Paz discovered that MS-13 did provide acceptance and friendship, but also introduced her to a world of crime and violence.

The story of how Paz turned into a police informant and became the youngest person ever admitted into the Witness Protection Program is the strength of the book. It is a narrative both amazing and sad. I was engaged by Paz’s struggle to find love and acceptance in an atmosphere of violence and death. I was not engaged by the author’s points of view. Logan often recounts events, thoughts, feelings, emotions from the point of view of a character who is about to be murdered. Sorry, you can't do that. It may make your story more exciting, but it's a lie, a falsehood; cheating. This speculative form of writing (omniscient point of view) is fine in fiction; in non-fiction it destroys credibility. Even worse, the book includes no notes or citations, so the reader can never be sure of the accuracy of any of the information presented.

While This is For the Mara Salvatrucha is an often gripping, disturbing look (maybe “glimpse” would be a better word) into gang activity, it’s not a book I can recommend.

*For a more credible (although far less graphic) account of gangs, gang structure and how they work on a day-to-day basis, read Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh.