The Beast was first published in Spanish in 2010 and then translated to English in 2013. It provides accounts of Central American migrants as they travel through Mexico to eventually reaching the US border. I liked the descriptions of the various actors; migrants, Mexican authorities, coyotes, small-time criminals, drug gangs, etc and how they interacted with each other. It gave me more of a role of these various actors.

While it didn’t spend a lot of time describing the conditions the migrants left, one definitely got a sense that people motivated to pass through all this in Mexico wouldn’t likely be deterred by simple barriers – and also some perspective of why ‘caravans’ might have arisen.

Overall, thought it was well-written account. I don’t know how much as changed since 2010/2013. I’m sure specific dynamics of parts of the border areas may have, though we still have the overall area of Central American migrants becoming particularly prominent from 2014 onwards. This is a good read.