A kinetic new novel from the border

 A news photographer limps back across the Mexican border. He’s bloodied, his cameras smashed. And he carries a menacing message from a notorious drug lord for one of his colleagues. “Tell Tom Harley he’s dead meat.”

This death threat transforms a half-hearted reporter into an unlikely hero and kicks off a cross-border drama. Roaming from a love nest in El Paso’s shadeless barrio to a dusty car wash across the river in Juarez, Harley starts to untangle a story in which he’s a leading actor. But can he tell the truth once he finds it?

In Donkey Show, Stephen Baker weaves a tale of deception, dueling ambitions, and international intrigue—most of it taking place within a 10-minute bike ride of the newsroom. Nearly everyone involved, it seems, shapes their stories to fit their dreams. But they have to survive the madness on the border for these dreams to come true.