Customer Reviews

A fornicating son of a goat of a book - By: russell clarke, 02 Aug 2008
There is one chapterin Bandit Roads( actually it's split over two chapters book ending the narrative) that is as tense, compelling & exciting as anything you will readin a thriller. This is mainly because it's the type of scenario you might readin a thriller except this actually happened. Even the fact that the reader knows the outcome doesn't lessen it's impact . I will not elucidate further (even though the books jacket & no doubt corresponding promotional blurb will do so) for fear of giving too many details away . The rest of the book , not too surprisingly ,struggles to match the beginning & conclusions visceral thrills yet despite this Bandit Roads is an engaging & educational read.
Richard Grant acknowledges that he is a risk taker & you would have to be bearingin mind that the journey he undertakes for this book is through the Sierra Madrein Mexico. Different rules existin the huge underdeveloped expanse of the Sierra Madre-in fact it's fair to say no rules existin the Sierra Madre , certainly none that could be classed as rules by Western standards. Despite this & despite numerous dire warnings about travelling alonein such a dangerous place Grant set outin his truck hoping a few contacts( there are some great charactersin the book) would be enough to get him all the way through .
So why is the Sierra Madre so dangerous you might reasonably ask? Well it's all to do with drugs, lack of effective judiciary, corruption, family & tribal feuds ( revenge is an inherent part of Mexican culture leading to whole family's being wiped out) excessive drinking & the general machismo of the Mexican male. If you know someone of standing you have more chance of making it unscathed , if you know Mexican history & laud historical figures like Pancho Villa, that will help though not always & if someone offers to drink with you never ever refuse. Speaking Spanish is a good idea too...though as Grant concedes numerous times you don't need linguistic skills to recognise that some people are just plain nasty. There a lot of plain nasty peoplein the Sierra Madre.
Like Tim Butcher's tale of Congo travelling "Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart" Bandit Roads is a terrific way to learn about the culture & geography of an area most of us wouldn't give a second thought to. Its not as emphatic a political & historical discourse as that book but then again it avoids much of that books rather prosaic navel gazing . It also confirms that while we may feel we livein perilous timesin the U.K.in truth we really don't know the true meaning of the word. Just ask Richard Grant ...or better still read this book.He deserves it after what he went through.