God’s Middle Finger, by Richard Grant

The Sierra Madre mountains of Mexico are a realm where danger and beauty dance a treacherous tango. Just a few miles south of the Arizona border, this rugged landscape is home to some of the world's most prolific drug producers and boasts a murder rate that would make even hardened criminals pause. It's precisely this lethal cocktail that drew British journalist Richard Grant like a moth to a flame.

In his captivating book God's Middle Finger: Into the Lawless Heart of the Sierra Madre, Grant plunges readers into a world most wouldn't dare to explore. His journey is a series of hair-raising encounters and surreal experiences that blur the line between adventure and madness. One moment, Grant finds himself participating in a Tarahumara religious ritual, drinking himself into a stupor with peyote-fueled shamans. The next, he's scouring the unforgiving terrain for buried treasures left by long-dead Apaches, guided by nothing more than local legends and a weathered map.

But the true heart-stopping climax comes when Grant becomes the unwitting prey in a twisted game of cat and mouse. Pursued by cocaine-crazed outlaws armed to the teeth, he finds himself running for his life through the treacherous mountain passes, every shadow potentially hiding a trigger-happy pursuer.

Throughout these harrowing experiences, Grant maintains a remarkable sense of humor and self-awareness. He doesn't shy away from describing his own fears and follies, painting himself not as a heroic explorer, but as an ordinary man way out of his depth in an extraordinary place.