Widely known for his policial novels, he is considered the founder of the neopolicial genre in Latin America and is the president of the International Association of Political Writers.

[3][4] One of the most prolific writers in Mexico today, over 500 editions of his 51 books have been published in 29 countries and over a dozen languages, and include novels, narrative, historical essays, chronicles, and poetry.

A militant and veteran of the 1968 student movement in Mexico, his book '68 (published by Seven Stories Press in 2004) was inspired by the events of that year and direct personal experience, it tells the story of the movement including the Tlatelolco massacre of student protesters in Mexico City by government troops: at the La Plaza de las Tres Culturas, thousands of people were arrested, hundreds killed, and hundreds are still missing.

Other novels include: Cuatro manos (Four Hands); Sombra de la sombra (Shadow of the Shadow); Amorosos fantasmas; and Temporada de Zopilotes: Una historia narrativa sobre la Decena Trágica (Buzzards' season: A narrative history about the Ten Tragic Days) and, the last of the series, Muertos incómodos (The Uncomfortable Dead), co-authored with Subcomandante Marcos.

PIT organizes the "Semana Negra" ("The Noir Week"), a crime fiction festival held every year in his birth city of Gijón in Spain.