Jackson Heights Chronicles: When Crossing the Border Isn't Enough

Tobon paints a gripping picture of life and loss in the mean streets of New York's Jackson Heights, a multi-ethnic neighborhood in Queens with a large Colombian population. Known as the ""Mayor of Little Columbia"" (a character in the film Maria Full of Grace is based on him), Tobon is a New York City travel agent and community leader who aids the families of ""mules""-Colombians who risk their lives by transporting drugs to the U.S. In this series of short fictions, Tobon-like protagonist Fernando deals with the mafia, the cruel ""coyotes"" paid to smuggle humans (and their drugs) into the U.S., daily neighborhood hardships and devastating family betrayals. Using deceptively straightforward prose, Tobon weaves suspense, nuance and drama into disquieting situations, with dialogues that interlace broken English and simple Spanish. The result is a grim, vivid mosaic.