The Devil's Swing

Rating:
Summary: FANTASTIC!
Review: I really enjoyed reading this book. Mr Fords style of writing made me see and feel the perils and attraction of drug running.
His descriptive style of writing had me feeling the pain and hope of the characters.It also makes me want to visit Texas and Northern Mexico to see the harsh beauty of the area. It was a great read and I look forward to reading more of his works.

Rating:
Summary: A real glimpse at the drug trade
Review: THE DEVIL'S SWING
By Don Henry Ford, Jr.

The Devil's Swing is a story that takes you to hell and back amidst the nightmarish world of drug smuggling; John Kendall, Manuel Chavez, and Jesus Otono hastily sell their souls for the love of money, power, and an unending supply of ladies of the night.
The three comrades fall into chaos as they get rich while smuggling drugs and then dive deep into the bottomless pits of despair when they realize the choices they've made are a death wish beyond their control.
The settings in The Devil's Swing are vivid; the characters seem very real and the turbulence throughout the book definitely makes for great entertainment. Don Henry Ford, Jr. brings the world of drug smuggling and the misery that surrounds it to life with clarity and expertise.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Devil's Swing.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: THE DEVIL'S SWING
By Don Henry Ford, Jr.

The Devil's Swing is a story that takes you to hell and back amidst the nightmarish world of drug smuggling; John Kendall, Manuel Chavez, and Jesus Otono hastily sell their souls for the love of money, power, and an unending supply of ladies of the night.
The three comrades fall into chaos as they get rich while smuggling drugs and then dive deep into the bottomless pits of despair when they realize the choices they've made are a death wish beyond their control.
The settings in The Devil's Swing are vivid; the characters seem very real and the turbulence throughout the book definitely makes for great entertainment. Don Henry Ford, Jr. brings the world of drug smuggling and the misery that surrounds it to life with clarity and expertise.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Devil's Swing.

Rating:
Summary: A real glimpse at the drug trade
Review: This story captures the grit of drug smuggling along the border. There are realistic depictions of life in a Mexican border town and the people that inhabit it. The author draws on his experience in this illicit trade to expose the corruption on both sides of the law. The reader will feel the adrenaline rush of the smugglers in this writer's auspicious debut.

Rating:
Summary: A great book about drug smuggling
Review: While it may be inappropriate for an author to critique his or her own work, I wish to do so to provide information not currently available at this site. I wrote "The Devil's Swing" in 1989 from the cell of a federal institution where I resided, serving time for importing marijuana into the United States. I wanted to write a factual account of my personal experience, but was unable to do research, so I opted instead to write a story which mirrored some of what I witnessed during my career as a smuggler.

Many of the places described in this book are real; some are not. I patterned some characters after real people, but the events described did not happen. They could have. I did spend a year in the despoblado of Northern Mexico after escaping from federal prison, growing and smuggling marijuana, and found no easy way to extricate myself from the business. During my stay, I saw corruption at the highest levels, and was persecuted by the Mexican army, at one time spending two and half months running for my life from Mexican soldiers--I am sure intent that I should not survive to tell my story. I was captured and kidnapped by a rival drug organization claiming to be police, after a one-sided gun-battle (them shooting at me). I consider it a miracle that I survived.

The story is very good; the telling of it leaves something to be desired and is the work of an aspiring writer with limited but growing skills. It is no literary masterpiece, but I am one of few white Americans, if not the only one, that has seen and lived in this part of the world and is still alive to tell the story.