The Devil's Harvest: A Ruthless Killer, a Terrorized Community, and the Search for Justice in California's Central Valley

by Jessica Garrison

Overview

A gut-wrenching and timely deep-dive into the unbelievable true story of Jose Martinez, a drug cartel hitman responsible for dozens of murders across the forgotten farmlands of California's Central Valley, The Devil's Harvest sheds light on how the criminal justice system fails our country's most vulnerable immigrant communities

On the surface, 58-year-old Jose Martinez may look like your average neighbor, mechanic, and devoted father. However, unbeknownst to his many loved ones, Martinez worked as a drug cartel debt collector and hitman for over 35 years, terrorizing the poor, rural, immigrant communities of California's Central Valley and beyond. Having confessed to three dozen murders, he is one of the most prolific serial killers in American history—along the lines of Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and even H.H. Holmes. And yet until he voluntarily turned himself in, Martinez was virtually unstoppable.

How did Martinez manage to evade law enforcement for so long with little more than a slap on the wrist? Because he understood a dark truth about the criminal justice system: if you kill the right people—people who are poor, who aren't white, and who don't have anyone to speak up for them—you can get away with it.

Melding the pacing and suspense of a true crime thriller with the rigor of top-notch investigative journalism, THE DEVIL'S HARVEST follows award-winning reporter Jessica Garrison's relentless search for the truth as she traces the life of this merciless assassin, the cops who chased him, and the families of his many victims. Drawing upon decades of case files, interrogation transcripts, on the ground reporting, and Martinez's own handwritten journals, THE DEVIL'S HARVEST uses a gripping and often shocking narrative to dig into one of the most important moral questions haunting our politically divided nation today: why do some deaths—and some lives—matter more than others?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781549105906
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	08/04/2020
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 5.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Jessica Garrison, who has won numerous national awards as a writer and an editor, is a member of Buzzfeed News’ investigations team, based in San Francisco.

Editorial Reviews

06/29/2020

Garrison, former Los Angeles Times reporter and Buzzfeed News West Coast investigations editor, delivers in her debut an expertly researched account of the life and alleged crimes of Jose Manuel Martinez, one of America’s most prolific hit men. In June 2013, authorities apprehended the 58-year-old Martinez in connection with a Florida murder as he attempted to enter the U.S. from Mexico. Martinez freely confessed to 36 murders for hire across 12 states over his 30-year career as a freelance Mexican cartel enforcer. At his trial in Florida in 2019, Martinez’s defense was able to persuade a jury he should not face the death penalty, as the prosecution called for. Garrison provides Martinez’s account of his criminal acts and the lackluster police efforts to solve them, and explores the history and hardship of the predominantly migrant farming communities among whom he committed most of his violent crimes. In a time of great frustration with law enforcement’s role in the racial divide in America, Garrison’s work shows another aspect of the social disparity in policing, namely that crimes against minorities are poorly investigated. This is essential reading for true crime buffs. Agent: Katherine Flynn, Kneerim & Williams. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"Jessica Garrison is a writer to watch. Her ease with language and graceful storytelling make her a welcome new voice on the California literary scene. This book sheds light on the neglected history of American homicide and weak justice as it plays out in migrant farmworker communities and on the distinct challenges of rural policing, which are too often overlooked in the national conversation on violent crime."—JillLeovy, New York Times bestselling author of Ghettoside

"A killer who hides in plain sight, a justice system that fails its most vulnerable—with her deep dive into the life and many deaths of Jose Martinez, Jessica Garrison has tapped into a story that is as haunting as it is captivating. Meticulously researched and tightly woven, The Devil's Harvest is an important story because it tells us that if it can happen in one place, then it can happen in any place. And that's damn scary."—Michael Connelly, New York Times bestselling author of The Closers, The Lincoln Lawyer, and The Night Fire

"The most enduring crime narratives zoom out past individual stories of senseless murder to larger issues of societal breakdown, cruel injustice, and ripple effects upon countless lives forever fractured. The Devil's Harvest brilliantly depicts not only the crimes of one decades-undetected hitman, but the lives of those he murdered—often poor, undocumented immigrants, overlooked and given little thought. Jessica Garrison demonstrates, with urgency and compassion, how necessary it is that we not look away and how much these lives count above all."—SarahWeinman ("The Crime Lady"), author of The Real Lolita and editor of Unspeakable Acts:True Tales of Crime, Murder, Deceit & Obsession

"Such a rich evocation of place is a rare find in a book about a killer and his crimes. The middle of California becomes another character, as richly drawn as the cunning murderer, the dedicated but often hapless detectives who chased him, and the people—poor and hardworking—trying to seek justice."—MarkArax, award-winning journalist and author of The Dreamt Land: Chasing Waterand Dust Across California

"[A] propulsive and incisive look at a hired killer who targeted those on the margins—often poor, undocumented immigrants living in the Central Valley—told with necessary compassion."—The Crime Lady blog

"An urgent, highly readable work of crime swiftly committed and justice long delayed."—Kirkus

"With great empathy and exhaustive research, Jessica Garrison weaves a compelling tale that is equal parts detective story and social commentary. The Devil's Harvest is a different and much-needed California story—trenchant and timely in an era of staggering inequality."—MiriamPawel, author of The Browns of California

"Expertly researched... In a time of great frustration with law enforcement's role in the racial divide in America, Garrison's work shows another aspect of the social disparity in policing, namely that crimes against minorities are poorly investigated. This is essential reading for true crime buffs."—Publishers Weekly

"Garrison's writing is enthrallingly thriller-esque while it sheds light on real-world horrors."—Shelf Awareness

"Meticulously researched... a portrait of a place as much as it's a true-crime narrative."—The Los Angeles Times, California Newsletter

"This is a powerfully addictive read from start to finish, and a first-class true-crime narrative."—Booklist

From the Publisher

2020-04-26
Most contract killers view their acts as a job. BuzzFeed News West Coast investigations editor Garrison portrays one who took pleasure from murder.

Jose Manuel Martinez killed nearly 40 people in a 30-year period, sometimes for pay, sometimes simply because, in one case, someone parked in his driveway. He was finally convicted in three different states, but it took the police more than three decades to catch up to him even though they suspected him. There were a couple of reasons for the lag; Martinez claimed it was because he was “so damn good,” but Garrison has a different take: Of the Golden State Killer, who killed mostly white women, some 2,800 stories were written, whereas in the case of Martinez, “there were fewer than fifty.” The author ventures that Martinez, whose victims were mostly Mexican Americans and immigrants presumed to live in crime-ridden places with no advocates in law enforcement, “had found an ideal place to ply his trade” in California’s impoverished Central Valley. Garrison constructs a horrifying portrait of a man who began to kill when a relative was raped and murdered, found he was good at it, and made it a profession alongside drug-dealing and other crimes. The police caught up with him time and time again but could never make the charges stick beyond short sentences—as when he killed “a rat” and failed a lie-detector test on the matter but soon walked away because polygraphs aren’t admissible evidence in California courts. Garrison’s story involves a lot of personal back and forth with the now-imprisoned Martinez, who called her during his Florida trial to ask, “What is a sociopath?” “When I told him it referred to someone who had no conscience and lived outside the rules of society,” she writes, “he responded, ‘Huh,’ as if he wasn’t quite sure what to make of that.”

An urgent, highly readable work of crime swiftly committed and justice long delayed.

Kirkus Reviews