THE BURDEN OF TRUTH

A Mexican American teenager gets caught between a local gang and aggressive police.

Omar Ortega, 18, has it all planned out. Having saved up money through diligent work, he’s moving his mother, younger sister, and brother out of the barrio in Vista, California, into another neighborhood. Omar will graduate from high school and join the Army—that is, if he can avoid the unexpectedly paroled Alonzo “Chunks” Gutierrez, shot-caller for the Eastside gang. Chunks is determined to initiate Omar, who wants no part of it. He’s forced into a meeting, however, partly through trying to protect his 13-year-old brother Hector, who badly wants to be accepted by the Eastsiders. This puts Omar on the sheriff’s department’s radar as a gang member—and then as a murder suspect when a cop is shot. The police, the media, and the community all consider Omar guilty. Even bringing the truth to light may not be enough. Griffin, with 27 years in law enforcement and three previous police novels, brings a wealth of authentic procedural detail to his story. He ably depicts cultures and subcultures (such as the various specialized police units) and, by contrasting Omar’s point of view with that of Travis Jackson, a patrol deputy for the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, shows the humanity of both main characters. The novel lays bare the many complicated social and attitudinal intersections that obstruct possibilities for change. The novel’s dialogue also helps its rich characterization, capturing the speakers’ various flavors, such as Travis’ description of a cop: “He got thrown under the bus for jamming his gun down the gullet of some skell parolee.” Slotting well into contemporary issues of police misconduct, the plot’s momentum toward tragedy feels all too inevitable.

A timely, thoughtful, and ultimately devastating novel that rings true.