Morris Collins

I seem to be in the minority about how I felt about this book, but I just couldn't get through the whole book after about 175 pages, without skipping along to get to the end, so here goes.
There are two telling things-at least for me, written about this book on the book itself.
1. There is a review blurb on the back comparing the author to Joseph Conrad.
2. The author bio states his previous work was short stories and poetry.
Regarding the comparison to Joseph Conrad, I couldn't agree more. Conrad's books are a long painful task for me to get through. They wander, they use lots of words for no beneficial reason, and worst of all they are boring.
Regarding the fact that the Author's previous work has been short stories and poetry, explains a lot. Writing overly descriptive passages that add nothing to the storyline, just means you excelled at creative writing while getting your MFA. It is poetry put in novel form, but becomes tiresome as the story drags on. This would have been much better as a short story, but at 389 pages, it was a torturous read instead.
The main character Ethan, finds himself in Mexico in a saloon/whorehouse being chatted up by Yolanda. Ethan is married but has walked away from his wife because she is an alcoholic, and a train wreck, and possibly a number of other issues, (possibly described on a page I skipped). Through a completely unrealistic set of circumstances Ethan agrees to help Yolanda, find he long lost sister, in some fictitious Central American country, or maybe it was El Salvador, Belize, Costa Rica, or Nicaragua. It is never truly spelled out. Add in shady government bad guys, criminals, and human traffickers, and you have the people teaming against Ethan in his quest.
I never understood why he is helping Yolanda. What his wife's actual status is. Or why I should care.… (más)

I received a free copy through Goodreads.
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To be honest, I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I first picked this book up.

It took a little bit for me to get into the book and pick up what was going on. Ethan.... is quite the main protagonist, almost from the get go you can see that he is the type to help those in need, especially damsel in distress. Given his past history with Samantha (his wife who had a dark past), to wanting to save Mirabelle.

Nothing is ever what it seems! Who knew that Soto had more to him than what meets the eye. Just because he is a child trafficker and killer, doesn't mean that he is entirely heartless after all he did allow Ethan to exchange Mirabelle's life for Yolanda's life

I should have known that Ethan was being played and nothing is as straight forward as we were lead to believe. It would have been simple to believe that Yolanda really needed Ethan's help to save her sister, Mirabelle, instead it's much more complex and intricate.

It was quite the interesting read. Full of complex characters, elaborate lies and tightly woven web of plots.… (más)