Yeah, so this book pretty much wrecked me. I get misty-eyed every time I think about it. It captures people as they really are, and the world as it really is, in such an acute way it's breathtaking. It portrays life in all its unfairness and unexpected beauty, underlining the truth that people can't be boxed in, neatly labeled, or psychoanalyzed, because eventually they'll break every epithet you try to pin them with. And it does this all in 161 spare pages.

The setting (Southern Chile, near the Strait of Magellan) is described so well and integrated into the story so fully that it feels like another character.

The Killer's Tears is a beautiful, difficult, necessary story told in simple language that cuts deep. I loved it and will be buying myself a copy - possibly to inflict upon others.