3.5 

Skin of Tattoos

By Christina Hoag
Skin of Tattoos by Christina Hoag digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

Sometimes your best homies are your worst enemies. L.A. homeboy Mags is desperate for a fresh start out of gang life, but after doing time on a frameup, he finds the only door open to him is continuing with his clica, the Cyco Lokos. He figures he'll stay in for a while to save money to get away from Los Angeles with his girl, but his archrival homie Rico sees him as a threat and schemes to get Mags out of the way forever. Mags plays right into Rico's hands, only realizing what his homie is up to after it's too late. Then Mags must make a difficult sacrifice to save his family and himself.
Drawn from the author's extensive interviews with street gang members in Los Angeles and San Salvador, this noir crime novel explores a poor immigrant family's struggle to survive in a gritty world where gangs appear to offer youth a way out but instead ensnare them in a dead-end life.

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Skin of Tattoos Reviews

3.5
“I won this book through a Goodreads Giveaway. I was interested to understand a realistic portrayal of gangs in Los Angeles, but it felt odd to do this through a fictional manner. I think fiction as a methodology of teaching about this subject from a well-researched author can be helpful to relate to more people, but I feel like writing a “based on a true story” novel could have achieved this better. Overall, the story seemed fairly realistic, but the ethos of true stories could have tied it all together very well.”
“Skin of tattoos by Christina Hoag. Los Angeles homeboy Magdaleno is paroled from prison after serving time on a gun possession. This was a good read with good characters. Although fiction it felt real. I liked Magdaleno. He was my favourite. 4*. Thanks tbc on fb.”

About Christina Hoag

Author Christina Hoag is a former journalist who has had her laptop searched by Colombian guerrillas, phone tapped in Venezuela, was suspected of drug trafficking in Guyana, hid under a car to evade Guatemalan soldiers, and posed as a nun to get inside a Caracas jail. She has interviewed gang members, bank robbers, thieves and thugs in prisons, shantytowns and slums, not to forget billionaires and presidents, some of whom fall into the previous categories. Now she writes about such characters in her fiction.
Christina's noir novel Skin of Tattoos was a finalist for the  Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award for suspense, while her YA thriller Girl on the Brink was named Suspense Magazine's Best YA. She also co-authored the nonfiction book, Peace in the Hood: Working with Gang Members to End the Violence, used in several universities.
She's a former staff writer for The Miami Herald and The Associated Press, and wrote from Latin America for Time, Business Week, The New York Times, Financial Times, Times of London, Houston Chronicle and other news outlets.
Christina lives in Los Angeles, where she has taught creative writing at a maximum-security prison and to at-risk teen girls. She is a regular speaker at writing conferences, book clubs, libraries and other venues.
 

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