Safe Return Doubtful

translated from the Spanish (Mexico) by Heather Cleary and Julia Sanches – published June 2026

De la Cerda is a young Mexican writer to watch. Here she follow the excellent Reservoir Bitches with a similarly structured novel that once again highlights an issue important to her; in RB it was femicide, here it is cartel violence.

Specifically, this is to do with the human face of a protracted conflict between the cartels and government forces. Each chapter features a character affected by the violence, from the desperate trophy wife of a narco to a doomed boy about to be inducted into a street gang. These could be standalone stories, but are much better appreciated in the context presented, linked to the conflict.

Each culminates with the arrival of Medea, the defiant murderess of Greek myth, who appears, often in a modern gothic incarnation, along with her snakelike tattoos, to offer rescue or vengeance.
It’s a clever idea, and one that works well.

My GoodReads score 4 / 5