The Southland

SOUTHLAND                                             JOHNNY SHAW

 THE SOUTHLAND tells the story of three unauthorized Mexican immigrants living in Los Angeles: Luz works multiple jobs to provide for herself and her teenage son Eliseo. Nadia, a former journalist with PTSD, fled Mexico and tries to stay hidden from the dangerous men that she exposed in Sinaloa. Ostelinda works as a laborer in a garment factory, having been deceived by coyotes and imprisoned in the same building since her arrival.

Their lives intersect through terrifying circumstances that clarify and contrast the horrors of existence. When Eliseo goes missing, Luz is lost. She doesn’t trust the authorities to help. One wrong move could get her deported. Luz has no option but to investigate her son’s disappearance on her own. Engaging Nadia and her roommate, they navigate an increasingly hostile American environment in an effort to reunite Luz’s small family. When Luz and Nadia uncover a link to the people that run the garment factory, the two women become determined to save more than just Luz’s son.

THE SOUTHLAND is a crime story, but more than that, it’s a story of America and the dangers that migrants face when being forced to live in the shadows.

PAT'S REVIEW

This book had my interest from the first page to the end. Each character was going through their own struggles each and you slowly find out about each one. Who Luz feels like she lost her son because left to come to America and left him at a young age, now there is a disconnect between them yet she still needs to work two jobs and how she is looked at, at though jobs mainly for being of brown skin but also female. Ostelinda works in the garment factory in downtown LA. And I was taken back to the sixties and seventies when raids of sweet shops were conducted and was a big thing on the news, do I think it still happens yes. Hell, my father was kid sewing hats in the thirties from an orphanage he lived in so yes, I still think it goes on. Her life and her sister are just one story of many and could be anyone who has come across. Nadia's story is a slow reveal throughout this book and the more each layer is pulled away he is shown her pain and loss. Now she feels like she has a reason for living and that is beginning to be taken from her. Her story makes this story, but I guess they all do in one shape or another. I found this to be a good book and I enjoyed the read. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 5 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com