Skin of Tattoos

Product Description

“Compelling.” “Captivating.” “Thrilling.” “Real page-turner.” “Gut-wrenching.” “Authentic.” “Brilliant book.” “Gritty.” 

Silver Falchion Award finalist.

Published by Onward Press, a military veterans’ nonprofit. All sales contribute to its mission to help veterans tell their stories.

Cyco Lokos gang member Mags comes home to Los Angeles after serving prison time for a robbery. He wants nothing more than to start a new life. However, there’s one obstacle he has to overcome first…his old life.

Mags tries to let go of his bitterness and stay out of gang life for the sake of his Salvadoran immigrant family and his girlfriend Paloma. It’s tough. He was framed by Rico, the new leader of the Cyco Lokos and a fresh start after a stretch in prison isn’t easy.

Faced with no prospects and Rico’s demands to help the Cyco Lokos make money, a broke and disillusioned Mags makes the only choice he can. However, he soon discovers that loyalties have shifted. Life in Cyco Lokos is far more dangerous and uncertain than it used to be. To make matters worse, Mags’s sister is pregnant by a rival gang member and his own relationship with Paloma, his best friend’s sister, is a violation of gang code, Mags is caught in a web of secrets, revenge, lies. Then a murder occurs that could cost him everything. Drawn from 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 a way out but instead lead to a dead-end.

Review

Hoag is a talented writer, summoning Mags’ world on the page with remarkable empathy and detail … None of the characters seem hastily constructed or come off as clichés. Their pressures and motivations are clearly stated and genuinely felt, and 
readers will quickly become invested in Mags and his confrontation with an uncertain future. The overall experience is surprisingly nuanced and wholly enjoyable.
 A 
well-crafted and engaging book.–Kirkus Reviews

Skin of Tattoos is full of the inevitability of lost lives; of those who can’t escape the deeply worn tracks of their predecessors. 
I started to become totally engrossed in Mags’ world; the characters Mags engages with are flawed and have agendas, which make them untrustworthy and far from predictable, and Mags himself is a complex character…
A great debut novel–KiwiCrime Reads

The 
plot twists and turns through a labyrinth of unexpected betrayals, difficult alliances, and the politics of gang life. This is 
a great book for anyone willing to get out of their comfort zone and to vicariously step into another person’s shoes and bleak existence.–UnderratedReads.com
The book is 
fast-paced and Mags is a sympathetic and credible narrator. Hoag does a masterful job of putting the reader though gut-wrenching cycles of fearing for him and hoping for him, hoping for him and fearing the worst. It’s 
a book that demands to be read in one sitting.–Alison McMahan, author, screenwriter, filmmaker

As a criminal-defense attorney who has done too many RICO cases, I am grateful to see a portrayal of this world that gives society a better idea of the odds at stake, the motivations at work, and the lack of easy answers available in the world of gang offenses. The work makes 
an accessible beach read while also refusing to let the reader off easy.–Clare Lyon, lawyer & author

A 
compelling, and 
at times chilling, tale of the inner workings of what it is to be entrenched in a gang lifestyle. The “codes”, the rules, the crimes and even the betrayals. Ms. Hoag has written 
a truly extensive and intensive story that will have you turning the pages–CMashLovestoRead.com

The 
research is extensive and her understanding of Salvadorian gangs quite 
vivid. An ending that lets readers know that some endings are new beginnings.–Just Reviews

Romance, intrigue and of course, suspense. Definitely a different look