Painted with blood

n 2016, North Americans spent close to US$150 billion on illegal drugs. BLOOD GUN MONEY (Bloomsbury, $32.99), by the seasoned (and brave) Mexican-based drug-cartel watcher Ioan Grillo, is about the river of iron flowing in the opposite direction, from the US to drug cartels south of the border. Between 2007 and 2018, more than 150,000 firearms confiscated in Mexico were traced to US factories and gun shops. “This would be enough guns to fuel an insurgency,” writes Grillo. “And in a way, they have. Cartels have killed thousands of police officers, soldiers, mayors, judges, political candidates, journalists, priests and civilians.” By page 70, the author has traced one gun in particular,