Over the past few years, she has steamrollered her way to the top of that country’s literary scene with harrowing but compassionate depictions of true-crime stories. There are a million things worth writing just based on that.”Īs we speak, Melchor is in Berlin on a fellowship, but she’s usually based in the city of Puebla, Mexico. “A lot of what I do is go to Veracruz and listen to what people are saying. Melchor, who grew up in Veracruz, says she heard the story from a friend, who heard it from a taxi driver - which is typical for this friend, whom Melchor calls “the taxi psychologist.” (“He gets in the cab, asks a question, and the driver starts going off.”) The main difference between reality and Melchor’s version is that in Paradais, the taxi driver doesn’t live to tell the tale. This is one of the most shocking sequences in Fernanda Melchor’s latest novel, Paradais. He fires off four shots - his first murder. ” Milton completes the prayer in his head: Vida, dulzura y esperanza nuestra. The driver has his face to the ground, and he’s praying: “Dios te salve, reina y madre de misericordia. “Flick the safety off,” El Sapo says to Milton, his pistol trained on the kid even while he’s handing him another pistol from his waistband. They pull onto an unpaved road at the edge of the city, drag the taxi driver out of the trunk, and throw him to the ground. Four guys pile in, and they start driving, knocking delivery drivers off their motorbikes, making off with the bikes one by one until only Milton and the boss, El Sapo, are left in the cab. So one of the sicarios hails a taxi, puts a gun to the driver’s head, and throws him into the trunk. Then they give the terrified kid clean clothes and send him out on his first job as a professional killer.īut first, they need a car. He lives in a poor neighborhood near the coast of Veracruz, Mexico, where there’s a gang that strikes such fear into civilians that they refer to its members only as aquellos, or “them.” One night, a group of gang members abducts Milton from in front of his home and interrogates him with electric shocks until he pees himself.

Hurricane season melchor