Review of Midnight in Mexico: A Reporter’s Journey Through a Country’s Descent into Darkness

 

Hardcover: 304 pages Midnight-in-Mexico-A-Reporters-Journey-Through-a-Countrys-Descent-into-Darkness-Paperback-P9780143125532

Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The; First Edition edition (May 30, 2013)

 

María Fernanda Machucha Cruz / Investigative reporter and freelance journalist / diario19.com

 

In his book Midnight in Mexico, Alfredo Corchado presents the struggles he encountered as an American foreign journalist in Mexico while covering sensitive topics, ranging from government corruption to crime related to drug cartel activities. In a very personal approach, the author associates his Mexican heritage with his career duty to report the truth that many of his fellow Mexican counterparts have decided to avoid to prevent retaliation from criminal organizations and/or the government. The book is filled with sentimentalism, from yearning to return to the country of origin and its attached symbols, like family and childhood memories, to the pride of being an American. Also, the author includes the background of certain events as he narrates how they may be related to his current situations.

 

The book begins with an explanation of the book title, a threat that kept the author awake until he realizes it is midnight. Corchado’s book is filled with his experiences as an American journalist in Mexico that is trying to bring light to controversial stories that will not be published in the Mexican media. However, after being told by an informant that he is being the target of an organized crime leader, he is forced to choose between taking the easy route – leave Mexico and stop reporting – or continue his work with the possibility that he may not be alive for much longer. In his several stories, filled with others’ tragedy, government corruption, somehow Corchado manages to make them all about his personal life; he is always connected to the emotion of others and brings his personal Mexican heritage as the reasoning why he is so compelled to working as a journalist in Mexico.

 

It contains a balanced amount of history, love story, and selfless/heroic moments that can become engaging. At times, the story telling of the author can become rather premeditated; it seems forced and suited to create an emotion out of the reader. Although there is no doubt that not everybody will be willing to risk their lives to publish stories about Mexican public employees and highly dangerous criminal organization activities, the book drags the story of the threat against Corchado for many years; which cheapens the storyline of the threat after a while.

 

I found the story hard to believe; I do not know if it was because it was thoroughly embellished with imagery and drama, but it was hard to believe that he could have escaped the threat of the main leader of the Zetas, especially after the many murders of journalists in Mexico. Another aspect of the book worth mentioning is how the author uses both of his nationalities to appeal to his readers, he is never to Mexican so that Americans will call him a traitor and his is not very American so that he appeals to Mexican readers; personally, I think he overly uses his few Mexican childhood memories to build his story. In conclusion, the book is so entertaining that it can be mistaken for a James Patterson thriller book in the fiction section of a bookstore.