Jeff Sexton
Truly Masterful. This is one of those books where the dangers of a foreign country - specifically, Mexico relative to US tourists, in this case - form a major plotline... so be aware of that going in, and depending on your own views you may like it or not. Either way, Bratt works it pretty amazingly to show that there are both good and bad people everywhere, and for the most part, people really just want to live their lives and work for the best for those they love.
In addition to the dangers of Mexico though (which are central to one of the major plotlines of the book), Bratt also does a great job of showing just how beautiful the resort areas in its tourist hotspots can be - which I can also attest to as well.
And then there is the plotline following the youngest of the Hart sisters, back again in a major way and having a more direct link with some of my own activities over the last couple of weeks, as I mentioned in Bratt's Facebook group. So that was pretty cool for me personally, but even more generally Bratt managed to layer this particular plotline into this story very well, despite its only real connection to the Mexico-based plotlines being that it involved a member of the Hart family.
Overall I do think this was one of the stronger tales of this series, really, with all that is done herein and all that is set up to come out of everything. Bratt carefully and beautifully layers all these elements of destination wedding, missing person suspense, travel danger, personal danger, family loyalty, non-preachy political commentary, and so much more... and she manages to do it all while telling a compelling tale in just over 250 pages. As I mentioned in the title, truly masterful.
Start from Book 1, Hart's Ridge, to understand all that is going on here, but for those more adventurous readers, this *can*, technically, be read as a standalone / entry point in series.
Very much recommended.
Originally posted at bookanon.com.
Truly Masterful. This is one of those books where the dangers of a foreign country - specifically, Mexico relative to US tourists, in this case - form a major plotline... so be aware of that going in, and depending on your own views you may like it or not. Either way, Bratt works it pretty amazingly to show that there are both good and bad people everywhere, and for the most part, people really just want to live their lives and work for the best for those they love.
In addition to the dangers of Mexico though (which are central to one of the major plotlines of the book), Bratt also does a great job of showing just how beautiful the resort areas in its tourist hotspots can be - which I can also attest to as well.
And then there is the plotline following the youngest of the Hart sisters, back again in a major way and having a more direct link with some of my own activities over the last couple of weeks, as I mentioned in Bratt's Facebook group. So that was pretty cool for me personally, but even more generally Bratt managed to layer this particular plotline into this story very well, despite its only real connection to the Mexico-based plotlines being that it involved a member of the Hart family.
Overall I do think this was one of the stronger tales of this series, really, with all that is done herein and all that is set up to come out of everything. Bratt carefully and beautifully layers all these elements of destination wedding, missing person suspense, travel danger, personal danger, family loyalty, non-preachy political commentary, and so much more... and she manages to do it all while telling a compelling tale in just over 250 pages. As I mentioned in the title, truly masterful.
Start from Book 1, Hart's Ridge, to understand all that is going on here, but for those more adventurous readers, this *can*, technically, be read as a standalone / entry point in series.
Very much recommended.
Originally posted at bookanon.com.