THE DEVIL'S HARVEST :: Jessica Garrison

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

"I was a nice man before they killed my sister," Jose Manuel Martinez explained to Jessica Garrison in an interview. Garrison, BuzzFeed's West Coast investigations editor, learned of Martinez in 2014 when law enforcement reported capturing a professional hitman. The Devil's Harvest is a chilling and hypnotic account of Garrison's discussions with Martinez, stunningly blended with in-depth research into his crimes, the culture that spawned and spurred them, the authorities who chased him and the carnage left in his wake.

An adoring and gregarious family man, Martinez turned toward fierce protection of women and children after his older sister was murdered. Asked to avenge the rape of a friend's sister, he readily agreed and found he liked killing. Martinez lived in California's Central Valley, where income disparity is the state's highest. Martinez's "greatest asset" as a killer was understanding America's dark truth. "If you kill the 'right people'--people who are poor, who are not white... and who don't have anyone to speak for them--you can get away with it." He had found an ideal place to ply his trade.

A story with a complicated backdrop, The Devil's Harvest includes ideal measures of nearly half a century of Central Valley history (grape strikes, the rise of drug cartels, anti-immigrant sentiment) that reinforce the narrative and intrigue. Martinez's 35-year run of mayhem was dreadful; the ongoing concept that some lives count more than others is a plague. Garrison's writing is enthrallingly thriller-esque while it sheds light on real-world horrors.

STREET SENSE:  If you're a fan of true crime, psychopathy, "mind of the serial killer" stories or cold case investigations, this is the book for you. It's one of those books that will make you (well, it made ME) want to go down several rabbit holes.

COVER NERD SAYS:  I love most of the visuals of this cover, but I don't think the background color does it any favors. Maybe it's just a personal preference, but it feels washed out and flat. I get the Valley is dusty, but I think a gray sky over that sun/in the clouds would have made the image pop more. This is also a very OCD thing, but it feels a tad unbalanced with the heavy visual at the bottom and the heavy font in the middle. So nit-picky me would have changed a couple things, but overall I think this cover presents the ominous tone that fits the book.