ISBN-13: 9780544262171
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date: 6/3/2014
Format: Audiobook
My Rating: 3 Stars
Andres suspects his wife has left him—again. Then he learns that the unthinkable has happened: she’s been kidnapped. Too much time and too many secrets have come between Andres and Marabela, but now that she’s gone, he’ll do anything to get her back. Or will he?
As Marabela slips farther away, Andres must decide whether they still have something worth fighting for, and exactly what he’ll give up to bring her home. And unfortunately, the decision isn’t entirely up to him, or up to the private mediator who moves into the family home to negotiate with the terrorists holding Marabela. Andres struggles to maintain the illusion of control while simultaneously scrambling to collect his wife’s ransom, tending to the needs of his two young children, and reconnecting with an old friend who may hold the key to his past and his wife’s future.
Set in Lima, Peru, in a time of civil and political unrest, this evocative page-turner is a perfect marriage of domestic drama and suspense.
My Review
Natalia Sylvester’s debuts with CHASING THE SUN, a novel with a balance of suspense, and family drama, set in Lima, Peru, during the 1990s during a time of political and social turbulence.
The author’s inspiration for this novel—her grandfather's kidnapping; she conveys to readers how trauma has the power to make them stronger, as they mend the past, and uncover deep secrets and truths.
I chose to read the audiobook version, as loved Peter Berkrot,the narrator in Desperate, as he has a distinct chilling, yet evil like voice, which grabs your attention.
Combined with a troubled marriage, a kidnapping, a ransom, a past, and a city where the poor struggle and the wealthy live in gated communities to protect their families from evil—the making for a riveting novel; however, the kidnapping seemed very long and drawn out. The first half dealt with kidnapping and the second half was more of the aftermath.
I did not seem to connect with the characters, as a little of a disconnect, with more of a domestic family drama, versus an intense suspense thriller. All in all, it was not a bad book; however, it did not particularly wow me, either.
