City of Omens

May 6, 2019
In this somewhat academic study, epidemiologist Werb investigates the massive rise in the murder rate for women in Tijuana beginning circa 2010, seeking the “pathogen” that could be causing it. Originally sent to Tijuana to study HIV, Werb quickly became aware that intravenous drug use and sex work were contributing to both the transmission of the virus and the increase in murders. He applied the precision-oriented tools of his trade to the nefarious practices of both the drug cartels and the Tijuana police. Werb learned that thousands of women migrate to the city each year seeking work at one of its many factories, then find themselves ensnared in the city’s underworld; those who seek help from the police or a way out of heroin addiction through the methadone clinics often end up even more entangled. Werb’s reportage is diligent; he speaks to sex workers, their customers, police officers, and fellow epidemiologists. Although his scientific language and deep dives into epidemiological practices make certain passages opaque, Werb shines a light on an outbreak of brutal crimes against Tijuana’s most vulnerable population. This is a well-researched, pressing study relevant to a wide audience. Agent: Kirby Kim, Janklow and Nesbit Associates.

May 1, 2019
An epidemiologist investigates the rash of female deaths in and around Tijuana. For the past decade, Tijuana has seen a drastic uptick in crime, most notably in the deaths and suspicious disappearances of women. After completing his doctorate in epidemiology and biostatistics in 2013, Werb traveled to the city to "dive into the purgatories Tijuana could produce," including the region's sex trade at Zona Norte and the arid, festering River Canal area. The author began his probing examination with a visit to a needle-exchange initiative. As a white Canadian, Werb stood out as he was escorted through the toxic cityscape to meet the indigent and drug-addicted people who call the storm drainage shafts and canal tunnels home. The author's steely focus and smooth, vivid prose make his encounters, which are often heartbreaking, come fully to life. He writes about how overdoses, murder, and rampant, untreated HIV have caused unprecedented deaths and disappearances in recent years, much akin to a surge that occurred in the late 1990s, when women vanished or were found dead by the roadsides. Illuminating the desperation of the area, Werb profiles a variety of residents--e.g., an aged sex worker participating in drug-injection studies and an elderly "shooting gallery" gatekeeper--and chronicles his collaborations with public health officials. The author also identifies known informational roadblocks, such as Tijuana's health care bureaucracy and police and amorphous Mexican cartel syndicates. Very little of Werb's spadework "tracking deaths backward in time" makes for easy reading, but his text shines a necessary light on Tijuana's epidemic of "femicide" and its unrivaled drug and poverty problems. While the statistics are increasingly staggering, the author, utilizing his epidemiological expertise, was able to uncover a "new syncretic agent of death" in the form of a lethal variety of street heroin. Werb cuts through the desolation to get at the truth of the region's vexing problem, but the solutions remain frustratingly elusive.

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May 1, 2019
Epidemiologist and public-health expert Werb chronicles his search for the answer to the growing epidemic of deadly violence against women in Tijuana and how and why it widened as he discovered many other threats. He employs and explains at great length the data-mining strategies epidemiologists have used over the centuries to discover the root causes of epidemics such as anthrax and HIV, the study of which originally brought him south of the U.S. border. The pillars of epidemiology?host, environment, and pathogen?support the three main sections of the book, and a fourth discusses causation. Myth, science, the histories of sister cities Tijuana and San Diego, and fascinating conversations with sex workers, police, community organizers, and drug users figure in each section as Werb explores every hypothesis regarding women's deaths from HIV, drug overdoses, pollution, and other systemic forms of endangerment to its logical, if surprising conclusion. Werb's personal odyssey and unique approach offer valuable insights into the tragedy of femicide on the border, where communities on both sides are inescapably interdependent. A powerful addition to investigative coverage of the volatile borderland.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)