Uli's first flight, a late-night joy ride with his brother, changes their lives forever when the engine stops and the boys crash land, with "Texas to the right and Mexico to the left." Before the accident, Uli managed being a high school track star and undocumented immigrant, fearing deportation. His mother Araceli spent her time waiting for her husband. His brother Cuauhtémoc, a former high-school track star turned drop-out, learned to fly a crop duster to earn a living. After the crash, Cuauhtémoc wakes bound and gagged, wondering where he is. Uli comes to in a hospital, praying that it's on the American side of the border. And their mother finds herself waiting for her sons and missing husband. Araceli knows that she has to go back to the country she left behind in order to find her family. In Mexico, each is forced to navigate the complexities of their past. Ruthless drug cartels force Cuauhtémoc to fly drugs. They have photos of his mother to prove they can enforce the threat. Meanwhile, Uli returns to his family's home in San Miguel and finds a city virtually abandoned, devastated by battles between soldiers, cartels and militias. Vividly portraying the impact of international drug smuggling, Peña's debut novel also probes the loss of talented individuals and the black market machines fed with the people removed and shut out of America. Ultimately, Bang is a riveting tale about ordinary people forced to do dangerous, unimaginable things.
