Why this book: When I recently mentioned to a friend that I lived in Imperial Beach, he recommended this book as a novel set in Imperial Beach. Wanting to know more about where I live, I picked it up. Though I didn’t particularly care for the book, I did get some interesting insights into the environment where I live – parts of the society which I see all-around me, but with which have no substantial contact and little knowledge.

My Impressions: This is one I can’t strongly recommend -it was a fun read, but not up to the caliber of the other books I’ve been reading lately.  On the plus side, the story did provide some interesting insights into the dark underbelly of the culture of the dispossessed on both sides of the border between Tijuana and Imperial Beach.  Also, Kem Nunn writes well –he has an excellent command of English and an ability to turn a good phrase –but I felt that his talent was not well used on this story.

The novel is about a beautiful Mexican woman environmental activist and social worker who someone tries to kill.   Through luck and circumstance, she is rescued by an over-the-hill, ne’er do well former champion surfer, former drug runner and convict, who was living a subsistence life-style on the edges of society in the southern rural part of Imperial Beach.  We get to know the surfer-dude – an interesting and sad character – in his 40’s and over the hill – what made him who he was, and his own disappointments with himself and his life.  Through him and his life we got a peek into the edgy world of fanatic surfers from the 70’s and 80’s.   We got to know the woman – idealistic, working hard to improve the lives of the poor in Tijuana, wiser than her young age, trying to find her path and make an impact against the greed and corruption that continue to harm the poor in Tijuana.  And we got to know the driven socio-path who was trying to kill her, shaped by a very tough childhood, consumed with hate and resentment, and a capacity for violence, killing, and survival in the nasty underworld of drugs, crime and poverty in Tijuana. The book is about the confluence of these three characters and their worlds, culminating in a fast and gripping scene that takes place in the Tijuana sloughs, just a mile or two south of where I live. It also includes some interesting insights into the smuggling, drug running, and illegal border crossing that is part of the world along the Tijuana-IB border area. I found Nunn’s writing effective, and he caught my attention with some great lines and phrases. Though at times interesting, and the story had an exciting concluding scene, the novel and the characters seemed a bit formulaic.   I also felt that the epilogue and anti-climactic ending were a bit cheesy and unsatisfying.