In the riveting sequel to the acclaimed bestseller The House of the Scorpion, Matt reels from the change in status quo and struggles to do the right thing; find out his story's end in this new edition with a reimagined cover! Matt Alacran is a fourteen-year-old drug lord.

Until recently, Matt was just a clone grown from a strip of El Patron's skin. Now he is lord of the land of Opium, on the one-time US-Mexico border, and rules over an army of microchipped, zombielike workers who are programmed to produce the drugs that are Opium's main export. El Patron kept the air and water in Opium clean, but the rest of the world is a polluted wasteland.

Matt is sure that, in his new position, he can find a way to break the cycle of violence and destruction--but it will only be possible if he chooses the right people to trust.