In this 10th novel from author Diamela Eltit, the protagonist is a young woman from a marginal neighborhood who works as a prostitute in a cyber cafe, her life at the height of tragedy and misfortune. The setting is a section of town surrounded by police special forces. But in a sad yet defiant play on words, the special forces of the title also refer to the will required to resist, to survive on the edge of society under such forms of repression and oppression. Violence and the scars left on bodies both physical and social appear in many of Eltit's novels, carefully constructed with uneasy passages dealing with brutality, fruitless desires, illnesses, and harrassment by the police, whose constant presence makes residents live in fear. Her books are also known for their obscenity that goes beyond sexual meaning, never better said, in the horrible, terrible things that must be avoided or hidden. This sad, dark novel constructs a tale from various voices of the poor and the dispossessed who, despite all odds, try to survive with dignity in the middle of a world full of more and more sophisticated guns and new ways of killing. The intelligence and clarity of the main character gives readers a sliver of hope.