Some People Need Killing

Patricia Evangelista’s book is a staggering work of narrative journalism that confronts the violence of the Philippine drug war with clarity and compassion. Drawing on years of reporting, she chronicles the lives shattered by state-sanctioned extrajudicial killings. Evangelista’s writing is vivid without sensationalism, allowing the voices of victims and their families to come through with heartbreaking immediacy. She navigates danger and moral complexity with extraordinary courage. The book is suffused with grief, rage, and a deep sense of witnessing. It is one of the most important contemporary works on human rights violence — unflinching and essential.