The book is repetitive and a little clumsily written (and unusually for an academic text it includes the author and his family in the narrative, which is a style choice that is not always interesting or helpful) but it's still a completely fascinating dive into the Santa Muerte folk religion that covers both its history and its current practice and dispels a lot of hysterical myths about the faith.

The paperback edition includes pictures, but unfortunately they're black and white and low-res, so not particularly useful for a book which uses colour as its organising principle. As academic texts go, though, Devoted to Death is both short and readable (and I believe it's the only comprehensive guide in English) so I recommend it for anybody with even a casual interest (like mine!) in folk religions and Catholic syncretism.