Left Alive by Graciela Limón

"I'd like to hear you tell me of your first recollections. You were a baby when it happened, so it's important to know when you began to take things in after that," Elena Santos tells Rafael Cota. 

"It. Things. You can use the word murder. I'm used to it." 

Rafael lives under the dark shadow of a violent crime, and he also lives with the knowledge that his mother was accused and convicted of murdering his three older siblings. But Rafael is a survivor, and all his life, he's been prepared to fight with his anger, his energy, and even his sanity to defend his family. Rafael's life has been a downward spiral since that murky night. He's been haunted by nightmares, even while awake, of what happened. Like many survivors, he struggles to understand why his life was spared. 

When Rafael is given a chance to tell his story to Elena Santos, a reporter for The Register, he jumps at the chance. What begins as a simple search for a meaty story to make her career leads Elena into the tangled mind of a sole survivor trying to prove his mother's innocence. Through interviews, she follows him on every step of his search: from Los Angeles to Mexico, from the jail at San Quentin to his father's house. Soon, Elena begins to doubt everything she once held true. 

*Paperback book.