43 MISSING is based on the true events of September 2014,when 43 male students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College went missing in Iguala, Guerrero and have yet to be found. The novel was a Finalist, Silver Falchion Award for Best Procedural of 2017.
Given the choice between resigning from the squadroom in Acapulco or taking a new assignment, Detective Emilia Cruz finds herself on a national task force examining Mexico’s most notorious crime.
After 18 months and three inconclusive investigations, the task force is the Mexican government’s last attempt to discover what happened to 43 students who disappeared after being seized by police in a small southern city.
Comprised of cops from across Mexico, the task force lacks technical tools, organized case files, and reliable witnesses. It’s a perfect scenario for failure.
Despite its problems, the task force gives Emilia the opportunity to search for the rapist and murderer known as El Acólito, with whom she has an agonizing family tie. Digging into his past life in Mexico City, she’ll learn a shocking truth about the man she’s determined to kill.
As the task force digs up confusing new leads, a diplomat from the United States embassy offers Emilia $50,000 to end the investigation. It’s a tempting offer that would shift Emilia’s hunt for El Acólito into high gear.
But is the diplomat really who he claims to be?
Does it matter?
When the task force heads to the scene of the crime, Emilia knows her loyalty, conscience, and very future will be put to the test.
Plot/Idea: 9 out of 10
Originality: 9 out of 10
Prose: 9 out of 10
Character/Execution: 9 out of 10
Overall: 9.00 out of 10
Assessment:
Plot: The sixth novel in the Detective Emilia Cruz series weaves together her interesting backstory, a fictional criminal, and the true crime story of forty-three missing Mexican students. That crime remains unsolved to this day, but Amato creates a very possible solution to it in this book.
Prose/Style: A fast-paced procedural, the novel is written in a no-nonsense style. This book is a real page-turner with just a touch of Spanish vocabulary and descriptions thrown in.
Originality: This book has a very original plot, as the author weaves the true crime with her own inventions. Readers will enjoy the clever use of other aspects of the crime scene elements in Mexico as well.
Character Development: Detective Cruz is a fully fleshed out character. Tough, but not above shedding a few tears, she bears the scars of a violent past while handling being the first and only female detective in Acapulco.
Date Submitted: April 15, 2019
