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Formats
Trade Paperback Details
  • 08/2019
  • 978-0990619451
  • 470 pages
  • $16.45
Hardcover Details
  • 08/2019
  • 978-0990619451
  • 484 pages
  • $36.93
Ebook Details
  • 08/2019
  • B07VXMSD41
  • 490 pages
  • $9.99
James Jennings
Author
Mirador
Nate Hunter has no desire to visit Chiapas, Mexico. It's 1993, dawn of the Internet Age, and his star as a brilliant computer engineer is on the rise. He wants to stay put and focus on his work. But his wife, Sarah, a dedicate nurse, wants to save the world. Invited to join a mission trip to the village of Mirador, deep in the Lancadon Jungle, she decides she's going, and Nate won't let her go alone. He knows the looming enactment of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is causing unrest among the campesinos and the government is cracking down on protests. The pastor leading the trip insists it's safe. Beneath the promised safety and surface calm, a rebellion is brewing. A group of peasants calling themselves Zapatistas is preparing for war. By the time the group reaches Mirador, Nate realizes the trip is a mistake. That evening, Sarah tangles with the leader of a parliamentary group, triggering events that lead Nate to a secret rebel camp deep in the jungle, where unforgiving tests and a newfound sense of purpose challenge everything he believes about himself as a husband, lover, fighter, and man.
Plot/Idea: 8 out of 10
Originality: 8 out of 10
Prose: 7 out of 10
Character/Execution: 6 out of 10
Overall: 7.25 out of 10

Assessment:

Plot: This is a clever premise, with a distinct historical setting for a novel of loss and revenge. Few American readers understand how NAFTA truly impacted Mexico, and this novel offers a vivid look inside the rebellion against those consequences.

Prose/Style: The writing is always solid, though sometimes a little overwrought, particularly in the romance scenes.

Originality: The author has made a very interesting choice, setting his reluctant protagonist, Nate Hunter, in the middle of the Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas, circa 1992-93.

Character Development: Nate's decency is always placed so far in the foreground that it's hard to chart his growing sympathy for the rebellion. His desire for vengeance, closely connected to the murder of his wife, often overshadows his empathy for the rebels and limits his depth. His Hemingway-esque, Robert Jordan-style hero's death is a little too predictable, though.

Blurb: A tale of a surprising twist of fate that sends an ordinary Dallas computer expert to the heartland of the Zapatista Rebellion in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. This book is full of vivid descriptions and nuanced portraits of people living on the edge until they decide to strike back.

Date Submitted: May 17, 2019

Formats
Trade Paperback Details
  • 08/2019
  • 978-0990619451
  • 470 pages
  • $16.45
Hardcover Details
  • 08/2019
  • 978-0990619451
  • 484 pages
  • $36.93
Ebook Details
  • 08/2019
  • B07VXMSD41
  • 490 pages
  • $9.99
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