If this novel appeals to a reader, it is possibly because it is not devoid of action, which begins in Mexico and continues in Spain. Reading about narco-traffickers or relating to who they are is not my first choice but seeing Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s name as the author, I couldn’t pass it up.

The main character in the story is Teresa Mendoza, a young clueless woman from Sinaloa, Mexico, whose boyfriend a skillful pilot, Güero Davila, is murdered while- to the best of Teresa's knowledge—working for a cartel and carrying drugs in his plane. Fearing for her life, too, Teresa escapes to Spain, and] after a few twists and turns--such as losing another man to death and ending up in a prison--she succeeds to become the mastermind of a multimillion-dollar drug empire in Marbella, Spain, and she works with or challenges other drug lords from several countries like Italy, Morocco, Russia, Colombia, and even the government officials and agents.

To elaborate more on the plot would be spoiling it for other readers, but suffice it to say that the numerous twists and turns, what Teresa discovers at the end, and the ending itself hooks the reader and never lets go.

As to the characters, in a novel this large a size and ceaseless action, they are almost countless. Aside from Teresa, only a few of them have been portrayed in detail.

Teresa as the main character is someone that might be difficult to identify with. After all, from a twenty-three-year-old naïve woman in love with Güero, she turns out to become a ruthless narco-trafficker who doesn’t blink an eye to have people killed. Even so, this author has succeeded to grant her enough traits to cause the readers to feel sympathy for her. The main reason is her wits and that she knows how to deal with people, and she can keep her cool under the most trying circumstances, and throughout the story, the author lets the reader delve into Teresa’s character and hear her feelings and thoughts.

The plot continuously expands and contracts, while developing subplots, constant twists and turns, and springing up myriad new characters along the way. I am not so sure that evoking so much and continuous excitement in the reader is a good idea for an author but Reverte pulls it with much success.

One thing I wasn’t very comfortable with was the telling of the story and the alternating change of viewpoint from a reporter’s interviews with several of the characters and Teresa’s third person POV. I think the reporter had no business being in the plot. Telling the story from the third person POV that favored Teresa would give this novel more clarity and literary propriety.

The reason why I read such a book of 644 pages about such disturbing criminal behavior and that I stayed with the story until its end could be due my curiosity for things I know little or nothing about, but mostly, what kept me engaged was the driving force of the novel’s complicated and exciting plot.

reading about drug traffickers and how they think and operate

the reporter’s trying to tell the story by interviewing people in Theresa’s life, especially in the beginning parts. It takes away from the flow and confuses the storyline.

Arturo Pérez-Reverte, a Spanish novelist and journalist. He has over thirty acclaimed and award-winning books.

it is exciting action, although too much of it, almost all the time, but the subject is interesting and what the main character finds out at the end is somewhat of a surprise.

Although I enjoyed reading this book, the story has its problems. One of them is the reporter. Another is the author’s descriptive style, which sometimes injects unnecessary material into a perfectly good scene. This makes the book needlessly too long while trying the readers’ patience and losing their grasp of the action

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Created Apr 14, 2019 at 11:22am • Submit your own review...