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Boy Kills Man

Book Summary

Reviewed by Matt Berman

Sonny and Alberto are best friends on the mean streets of Medellin, Columbia. They hang out together and protect each other, working together in small-time crime, such as selling contraband cigarettes. So Sonny is shocked when Alberto becomes one of the sicarios, child assassins used by drug lords because they are easy to control, manipulate, and dispose of. And he is infuriated and humiliated when Alberto will not let him join up as well.

Alberto's gun and money give him prestige and respect in the neighborhood, and his determination to keep Sonny out of it tests their friendship. But when Alberto disappears, Sonny's way is cleared, and he no longer has anything to lose.

Is It Any Good?

3

This is rough stuff, make no mistake. This story of teen assassins takes readers to a place and a way of life that we can only hope remains as alien as it is right now. That Americans bear some responsibility for the creation of this culture is beside the author's point -- his aim is to reveal the humanity behind statistics so stunning that most Americans can't really wrap their heads around them. Every now and then we hear something on the nightly news about the drug wars, the narcotrafficantes, the gangs and militia in Columbia, but it takes something like this powerful book to make it real, especially to teens.

While the events depicted here are horrific, author Matt Whyman does keep the reader at some emotional distance. Ordinarily this would be a criticism, but here it's more like praise. Readers will be disturbed enough without having emotionally identified with Sonny and Alberto. These are characters with a miserable present and no future, and middle-class considerations of basic decency and morality have no place in their world. A little distance is a good thing. But the book will still have a powerful impact on your kids, and they may have more questions than you are prepared to answer.

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