Noche Roja

Written by Simon Oliver
Art by Jason Latour

I found this entry to the Vertigo Crime imprint to be enjoyable, if wholly predictable.  Noche Roja is set on the Mexican/American border, and is concerned with the disappearance and murder of a number of young female maquiladora workers (who are strangely also referred to as maquiladoras, although I've never heard it termed that way before).  Jack Cohen, your typical down in his dumps PI is hired to look into the murders, and finds that the whole sordid business is tied to politicians in both countries.

Cohen, of course, has a history with law and order in Mexico, and is himself dealing with ghosts from the last time he crossed the border.  He works with a young human rights crusader, and the standard scenes of things like them getting chased through the barrio appear on schedule.

There's nothing wrong with this book - it has a compelling enough story, and nice, noir-ish art by Jason Latour.  It just doesn't particularly impress either.  This book treads ground that is familiar to me.  Roberto Bolano's brilliant 2666 concerns itself with the murders in Northern Mexico (although Bolano doesn't limit his scope to just 3 or 4 murders), while William T. Vollmann, in his dauntingly exhaustive Imperial, tried to gain access to a number of maquilas.  While I feel that Simon Oliver did some research for this graphic novel, I almost feel better informed for having read only these two books.