Review: Chemical Cowboys by Lisa Sweetingham

Agents and the men they chase often have the same start in life. They are creative problem solvers, natural leaders with street smarts and an ability to anticipate their adversary’s next ten movies. Somewhere along the way, guys like Gagne choose the law, and guys like Solomon choose crime. Gagne understood that there is a fine line between them, and he believed deeply in sticking to his side of the line. [pg 8]

Chemical Cowboys: The DEA’s Secret Mission to Hunt Down a Notorious Ecstasy Kingpin by Lisa Sweetingham
Ballantine Books, 2009
Nonfiction; 464 pgs

Journalist and author Lisa Sweetingham takes the readers behind the scenes of the investigations into major Ecstasy rings, while following the career of Special Agent Robert Gagne. For many years, Ecstasy was not taken all that seriously. It was "kiddie dope". Special Agent Gagne with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) would play an integral part in changing that. Gagne was passionate about his work and wanted to make a difference. While most DEA investigations were focused on cocaine and heroin in and around 1995, he was hoping to go in a different direction, go after a lesser known drug. A call from an informant who was given a sample of Ecstasy by two Israeli Nationals was just the break he needed.

Ecstasy got its start as a psychotropic drug and was quite popular for couple's counseling during the 1970's and 1980's. It’s official name is 3, 4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). It earned the name "Empathy" because of the effects it had on users, including a feeling of euphoria and heightened sensitivity; however later came to be called Ecstasy. In 1988, MDMA became a Schedule 1 Drug, determined to be highly addictive and with no real medical purpose. The effects of the drug diminish with each use, causing users to use more and more to gain the same results as when they begin taking it. The side effects and consequences of using Ecstasy, especially long-term use, can lead to permanent brain damage and even death.

While very popular among young adults, Ecstasy knows no boundaries. It holds appeal to a wide spectrum of people from all walks of life. As the drug grew in popularity and there was a greater demand for the drug, it became all the more challenging for law enforcement officials to crack down on it. When one person in the Ecstasy chain was arrested or disappeared, another was immediately ready to take that person’s place. The Ecstasy business was ever changing and growing rapidly.

The book opens with a stakeout in Los Angeles in November of 1999. DEA agents followed their suspects and watched as they abandoned a SUV. Suspecting it was a trick set up by the suspects to make sure they were not being watched, the agents laid in wait, keeping an eye on the vehicle for days. Eventually, they made a move on the vehicle and discovered the body of a man linked to the Israeli mafia. There were obvious signs of his having been murdered. Suddenly, the stakes had risen and it was not just about the drugs anymore.

In 1973, President Nixon's declaration of war on drugs led to the establishment of the DEA. In the early years, the DEA went after anyone they could get, and that often meant the little guys. Today, they go for those higher up in the hierarchy. They want to suppliers and the cartel heads. It was no different for Special Agent Gagne and his partner, Special Agent Germanoski. The agents began by investigating two low level Israeli drug dealers in New York in 1995 and worked their way up from there. They infiltrated the nightclub scene, posing as gay ravers, in an effort to bring down Peter Gatien, a well-connected nightclub owner who they believed was a major player behind the scenes of the Ecstasy trade. Unfortunately, the jury found him not guilty despite the damaging evidence against him. Special Agent Gagne was not so willing to let it go, and, as a result, suffered a blow when he is assigned a desk job, his maverick style finally catching up with him. However, that did not stop him from doing what he could to stay involved with the Ecstasy scene.

In 1995, when Gagne and Germanoski began their investigation into Ecstasy sales, the drug was barely a blip on the map. As time went on and the demand for the drug grew, other agencies across the globe began to take notice. The problem was so widespread that it did not take long before law enforcement agencies around the world joined forces to tackle the growing problem. The effort was lead by Gadi Eshed with the Israeli National Police. Once the various law enforcement agencies came together, their jobs suddenly became a lot easier. The tangled web of the Ecstasy underworld, at least that under investigation, was beginning to be unraveled.

The drug was being imported into the United States from Holland. Israeli Nationals played a large part in the organization and distribution of Ecstasy during the 1980’s, 1990’s and early 2000’s. It was even tempting enough for the Israeli mafia to take up. The three countries, working with other countries across Europe, were able to put a major dent in the Ecstasy trade.

While Special Agent Gagne plays a large part in Lisa Sweetingham's book, he is not the only major player, nor even the most important. The bringing down of a major Ecstasy kingpin, Oded Tuito, and many others tied to the industry was the result of the hard work of many. While jurisdictional issues occasionally came into play, for the most part the various law enforcement agencies involved worked together for their common cause. They relied heavily on confidential sources, such as informants. In fact, many of their leads come from those on the inside.

It will come as no surprise that I am a fan of crime fiction, especially mysteries. I am fascinated by the investigative process, the discovery of clues that lead to another and another and how it all comes together in the end. True life investigations are even more fascinating in many ways. You may not be able to get into the characters' heads quite the way you can in fiction (which is one of the aspects I especially find appealing in reading fiction), but you can get a glimpse at how crimes are really solved and of our legal system at work.

I have a new found respect for the hard work and dedication of those investigating drug crime rings and just what they are up against. They have an immense amount of patience, that's for sure, and their job requires meticulous attention to details. I am glad to have people like Special Agent Gagne and Commander Gadi Eshed on the job. They both take their jobs very seriously and it shows in their work product—and in their personal lives.

There are a lot of players mentioned in this book, both criminals and authorities. Usually I do not have trouble keeping several characters straight while reading, but in this case, it proved to be a bit of a challenge. Fortunately, Sweetingham did try and help, reminding the reader of the link between one person and another without being repetitive; however, I would not have minded having an organizational chart to help me keep it all straight. Especially one or two involving the various criminal groups.

I never know quite how to review a nonfiction book. While the events covered in the pages of Chemical Cowboys are factual and a matter of record, I do not want to spoil the book just the same. I will not go so far as to say the book reads like fiction, but I will say that it flows smoothly and the author has done a good job in presenting the information she has gathered. Is the book suspenseful? Yes. Informative? Absolutely. Did I enjoy it? Very much. Chemical Cowboys was without a dull moment. Sweetingham kept me interested from the very first page through to the last.

With both the law enforcement officers, the criminals and those who fall somewhere in between, the author presented them as the human beings they are, with their strengths and vulnerabilities. At times she talked about their families and their hopes and dreams, along with their failures. The people described in the book are more than just names on a page. Lisa Sweetingham saw to that.

While the efforts of the DEA and their allies had a major impact on the Ecstasy trade, the distribution and abuse of the drug continues still today. There are new criminals in place to do the dirty work, and law enforcement agencies all over the world continue to do what they can to make our streets safer.

Rating: (Very Good)


Challenge Commitment Fulfilled: ARC Challenge, New Authors Challenge, 2009 Pub Challenge, Chunkster Challenge, & Nonfiction Challenge


Be sure and check out the author's website. If you would like to follow Lisa Sweetingham's book tour in progress, visit the Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tours blog.

Thank you to Dorothy of Pump Up Your Book Promotion and the author, Lisa Sweetingham, for the opportunity to participate in this book tour.

Review: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (& a Giveaway)

As he left the hotel, Henry looked west to where the sun was setting, burnt sienna flooding the horizon. It reminded him that time was short, but that beautiful endings could still be found at the end of cold, dreary days.
[pg 77]

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Ballantine Books, 2009
Fiction; 290 pgs

I am sure many of you have had this experience: you come across a book that you just have to read. From that very first moment that you heard of or saw the book, there is no doubt in your mind that you will be reading that book. And so it was for me with Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. I do not like to buy hardbacks at full price, and so I began the long wait for the book to make it out in paperback. I told myself there was no way I would get to it anytime soon anyway, and so I could stand to wait as hard as that might be. Patience is not one of my virtues when it comes to books.

When Tracee’s e-mail came asking for tour participants, I did mental cartwheels. This was my chance! No more waiting! So, of course, I did not hesitate to say yes.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is a delightful and tragic book all in one. It is full of hope even during the direst of moments. Crossing over time lines, the novel goes back and forth between the sort of present (1986) and the past (World War II). It is the story of Henry Lee, a young Chinese-American growing up in Seattle, Washington, and an older Henry, who is searching for something even he is not sure he will find and trying to piece his life together as he makes peace with the past.

The Panama Hotel had been boarded up since the 1950’s. One day in 1986, as Henry is walking by, he notices a crowd gathering outside the hotel. He stops to see what is going on. The new owner of the hotel has uncovered a treasure trove of belongings, presumed to be hidden in the basement during the early 1940’s by the Japanese-Americans who were forced to leave behind their lives and everything they owned because of an executive evacuation order. The Japanese-Americans were believed to be a threat to national security. The concern was that any of them could be spies or saboteurs, and so they were locked away in internment camps “for their own protection.” The sight of a beautiful Japanese parasol reawakens memories in Henry to a past that is never completely out of his mind.

Stephanie Kallos’ Broken for You instantly came to mind as I read the first chapters of this novel. Both are set in Seattle and have elderly protagonists. In Broken for You, Margaret Hughes is surrounded by antiques collected by her father from the Jewish people who had been forced into concentration camps all over Europe. In Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry finds himself in the basement of a hotel, looking through the belongings of those who were interned during the war. Both Margaret and Henry have led full lives and yet they both feel something is missing and are in need of some sort of resolution to their pasts. Even among so many similarities the two books are completely different. The stories are told in their own unique fashions and go into completely different directions. Still, it was hard not to think of the one, at least at first, while reading the other.

In 1942, Henry is an innocent child of 12 years of age, untouched by the scars his father carried. His father, a proud Chinese man, did not like the Japanese because of the violence they inflicted on his friends and family in China. He saw it as a good thing that the Japanese were being persecuted in the U.S. during the war as they were the enemy, a common enemy shared with China. That part of Henry's family's history is so removed from Henry that he does not fully understand why his father holds so much animosity towards the Japanese, including Japanese Americans.

Henry’s father dreamed of sending his son to school in China once he reached his teen years, but with the war and the growing resentment towards the Japanese, Henry’s father and mother decided to push their son into an entirely different direction. Henry was instructed only to speak English both inside and outside of his home. In a home with parents who barely spoke English, this would prove to be difficult on many levels. In addition, Henry was enrolled in an exclusive private school where he was the only non-white student. At least until Keiko Okabe arrived.

Even before Keiko came to the school, Henry was tormented by the school bullies. The “I am Chinese” button his father made him wear did nothing to prevent the never-ending razing he got for being Asian. Keiko’s appearance on the scene only made things worse, and yet it also made things more bearable for Henry. He wasn’t alone anymore. The two formed an instant friendship.

Keiko was second generation Japanese. The daughter of a lawyer, she did not speak Japanese. She was American through and through. Henry and Keiko’s relationship blossomed, and yet she was not someone he could tell his parents about. His father’s hatred of all things Japanese made that impossible.

As the two grew closer, the situation in Seattle and around the country heated up. The war closed in around them. The persecution of Japanese-Americans intensified. Henry was devastated when Keiko was taken away from him, forced into an internment camp. He was not sure he would ever see her again.

I was in middle school when I read Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston, a memoir of one woman’s experience during and after her internment at the Manzanar camp during World War II. I had heard about the internment of civilian Japanese Americans before that, but not in much detail. Farewell to Manzanar had a profound impact on me at the time. I would later read the novel Obasan by Joy Kogawa, a fictional account of one family’s experiences in an internment camp in Canada. The novel was drawn in large part on the author’s own real life experiences. Up until that point, I had not realized Canada had also been involved with interning their Japanese-Canadian population.

As you can guess, it was this part of Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet which most moved me. It was both sad and tragic. So many lives uprooted out of fear and prejudice. So many lives destroyed.

I cannot leave out mention of Sheldon. Sheldon was a black jazz musician, playing his saxophone on the street for money, while hoping to make it big. He was a constant in Henry’s life and one of my favorite characters. Jamie Ford did a good job of offering readers a glimpse at the layers of discrimination during the early 1940’s, not only for the varying Asian groups in the United States, but for blacks as well.

The novel is not just about the internment of the Japanese-Americans, however. It is so much more than that. It is also about family, particularly the relationship between father and son. Henry and his son, Marty, do not talk to each other. Henry never really could talked to his own father and he isn't sure now how to talk to his son. His wife had been the person to facilitate much in their relationship. Now that she is gone, Henry must figure it out for himself. There is much Marty does not know about his father, especially his past. And there is much Henry does not really know about his son, including his son’s perception of him. So much stood in the way of Henry and his own father having a good relationship, and the influences of that relationship on Henry can clearly be seen in his relationship with Marty. Fortunately for both Henry and Marty, it is not too late to try to fix what is broken.

And then there is the love story: love lost and found. Keiko and Henry had so much going against them during the war years. The stress of the times and their separation did not help matters. While the story of Keiko and Henry takes center stage, the story of Ethel and Henry should not go unnoticed. They too shared a special love and devotion. I liked the fact that Jamie Ford was kind and gentle to Ethel's memory throughout the novel. I spoke much of Henry's character.

There is romance, friendship and broken hearts. There is tragedy and hope. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet lives up to its title. There is definitely the bitter, but in it all, there is the sweet. I truly enjoyed Jamie Ford’s novel. Henry and Keiko are great characters, even if seemingly a little too perfect at times. They both suffered much in their young lives. I flew through Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. It touched my heart, made me laugh and cry, and left a smile on my face as I closed the book for that last time.

Rating: (Very Good)


Challenge Commitment Fulfilled: ARC Challenge, New Authors Challenge, 2009 Pub Challenge, What's in a Name Challenge & War Through the Generations: WWII Challenge


Check out Jamie Ford's website for more information about the author and his book. You can find excerpts from his novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.


Thank you to Pump Up Your Book Promotion and the author, Jamie Ford, for the opportunity to participate in this book tour.




Giveaway! Want to enter for a chance to win a copy of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet? Here's what you have to do:

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me why you are interested in reading this book.
2. Be sure to include your e-mail address if it is not easy to locate on your blog or profile page.
3. The deadline to enter is May 30th at 11:59 p.m. (edited to add: open to anyone with a valid mailing address)

A winner will be chosen in a random drawing. Good luck!

Review: Blackbird, Farewell by Robert Greer & a Giveaway

First Sentence: The $4 million Nike athletic-shoe contract in Shandell Bird’s shirt pocket wasn’t about to solve his problem—couldn’t even put a dent in it—neither would the $3.2 million he expected to start drawing in October, once the NBA season started.


Blackbird, Farewell by Robert Greer
Frog Books, 2008 (ARE)
Crime Fiction (MYS); 362 pgs


Blackbird, Farewell is the first mystery by Robert Greer I have had the chance to read and it likely will not be my last. This novel is the latest in the CJ Floyd series, although, in what I assume is a departure from the series, the author focuses on a different protagonist: a young man about to head off to medical school. CJ Floyd is enjoying his honeymoon in Hawaii when his godson's best friend is murdered. Damion Madrid learns more about his friend, Shandell Bird, after death than he ever knew while he was alive.

Known as Blackbird and Blood on the court, Shandell and Damion had been among the best players on their college basketball team. Shandell had a career in the NBA ahead of him and a contract with a major shoe company. Life could not have been better for the young man. Or so it seemed. Shandell and an investigative journalist are gunned down one night on a Glendale basketball court, and the police have very few leads. Damion is determined to find out what he can about his friend's death. He is confident he can find the answers before the police do. He enlists the help of his godfather's business partner, Flora Jean Benson, a bounty hunter and former military intelligence officer. Knowing Damion is better off with her help and knowing he will go it alone without her, Flora Jean agrees to help.

The more questions that Damion asks, the darker the secrets he uncovers and the more he comes to realize that people aren't always what they seem. Could his best friend really have been involved with drug dealing and point shaving? If he was guilty of all of these things, why did he go down that road? What other secrets could his friend have been hiding from him all this time? The more Damion learns, the more danger he is in. People in high places have taken notice.

Author Robert Greer takes readers into the underbelly of the pro-athletic world and introduces readers to a cast of interesting characters, some of whom have obvious history in previous books. While the bad guys (and gals) are obvious, exactly who did what and when is not always so clear. The story unfolds bit by bit as the novel progresses, starting off slow and picking up speed with each turn of the page. There is a lot going on inside the pages of the novel and there were a couple of occasions when I thought it might be a little too much.

Although the story is told in third person and jumps from one character’s perspective to another, it is Damion’s story that takes center stage. His loyalty to his friend is endearing. There is a young man’s overconfidence about him mixed in with an innocence that reminds the reader just how vulnerable and unaware he is. Shandell’s own story is tragic in its own way. I didn’t think much of him in the beginning, but I could better sympathize with him by the end.

I was most impressed with the women in the novel, all of them strong in their own ways. Aretha Bird, Shandell’s mother, had suffered through a difficult marriage and raised her son mostly on her own. Flora Jean Benson is a tough cookie who obviously is used to getting what she’s after. Niki, Damion’s girlfriend knows how to take care of herself just fine, and Damion’s mother worked hard to earn her law degree and make a name for herself.

Blackbird, Farewell is an entertaining mystery. Although billed as a CJ Floyd mystery, CJ himself makes only a minor appearance. The author has certainly whet my appetite in finding out more CJ and his friends.

Rating: (Good)


Be sure and check out the author's website. If you would like to follow Robert Greer's book tour in progress, visit the Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tours blog.


Thank you to Dorothy of Pump Up Your Book Promotion and the author, Robert Greer, for the opportunity to participate in this book tour.


Other Blog Reviews of this book:
Michele - One "L"

I will be giving away a new hardbound copy of Blackbird, Farewell to one lucky commenter! Leave a comment along with your e-mail address if you are interested in winning this book. Drawing is open internationally. Deadline to enter is December 1st at 11:59 p.m. PST.

Added 12/06/2008: Recent events in my life caused me to overlook naming the winner in this contest until now. I apologize for keeping you all waiting so long. The lucky winner of Blackbird, Farewell is ChristyJan! Congratulations, ChristyJan. I'll be sending you an e-mail to request your address.

Review: The House on Tradd Street by Karen White

The woman was there again, pushing the swing, except this time the swing wasn’t empty. Holding tightly to the rope arms sat a small boy, his mouth open in laughter, the sound like soft air brushing against my cheeks. [pg 21]


The House on Tradd Street by Karen White
New American Library, 2008
Fiction; 329 pgs

Melanie Middleton was the best at her job. She had made a name for herself as the go to person if you were looking to buy or sell a historical home in Charleston. However, her own tastes ran toward the modern, finding the old homes to be money holes and more trouble than they were worth. Her feelings had everything to do with the fact that she could see dead people, a gift she had inherited from the mother who had abandoned her when she was a young child.

She never anticipated what a single visit to the elderly Nevin Vanderhorst would bring about. Melanie went to the home hoping to add it to her list of available homes for sale, only to discover Nevin was really only interested in talking to her. His father and Melanie’s grandfather had at one time been best friends and business partners until a falling out in the early 1930’s. Nevin’s mother had supposedly abandoned him around that time, although Nevin knew in his heart that could not possibly be true.

Upon his death, just days after Melanie’s visit with him, Nevin willed his house to Melanie. In a letter, he mentioned that he wanted Melanie to uncover the truth about his mother’s disappearance. Due to terms in the will which includes that she cannot sell the house for at least a year and is to spend funds from the estate on its restoration, Melanie is saddled with a house and a dog she does not want. Meanwhile, she is also surrounded by the ghosts of the house, including a malevolent spirit that desperately wants her out.

Author Jack Trenholm, well known for exposing little known histories, has taken an interest in the house and its history. He convinces Melanie to allow him access to the house; however, he is not completely forthcoming with her about his motives. The two have their work cut out for them as they begin the restoration process and their quest to uncover the truth behind the secrets buried there.

Karen White’s novel, The House on Tradd Street, is all at once a ghost story, a mystery, with a dash of romance. Melanie’s own past is connected to that old house both by ancestral ties as well as the similarities in hers and Nevin’s situations. They were both seemingly abandoned by their mothers at a young age, and, as Melanie searches out the truth of one past, she must face her own.

Melanie is one of those women most of us love to hate. She is both beautiful and can eat anything she wants without worry about gaining a pound. She is extremely practical and likes to maintain control of her life and situations she finds herself in. She sees her ability to communicate with the dead as a burden and tries to stifle her gift, ignoring the voices and spirits around her as often as she can. She is highly successful in her career but her personal life is lacking. Melanie does not let many people get too close. She has been disappointed too many times to take that risk again. There was an occasion or two when I did get annoyed with Melanie, knowing she was smarter than she was acting, but I suppose we all have moments like that, don't we?

I was most drawn to Melanie’s relationship with her father. For as long as she could remember, Melanie had to pick up after her father who drank too much. She has trouble believing he can maintain his new found sobriety and is not sure she wants to give him another chance. They are forced together due to the terms of Nevin’s will, however. I could plainly feel Melanie’s distrust, skepticism, and love for her father just as I could sense Mr. Middleton’s desire to make things right in his daughter’s eyes, knowing he’s disappointed her almost beyond repair.

The ghosts themselves were intriguing characters. Louisa, Nevin’s mother, carried the scent of roses with her. She had loved her son dearly, as well as her husband. Although it took awhile for Melanie to figure out who the evil spirit in the house was, it really was no surprise. He lived in the afterlife much as he did when he was alive.

The story was both absorbing and compelling. Not to mention I loved the setting of the novel. Karen White made me feel right at home in Charleston, South Carolina, capturing the atmosphere and the history. It will be interesting to see where the author takes us in the second installment, The Girl on Legare Street, featuring Melanie Middleton and Jack Trenholm, which is due out about this time next year. I would love the opportunity to meet Melanie’s mother.

Rating: (Good +)


Be sure and check out the author's website. If you would like to follow Karen White's book tour in progress, visit the Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tours blog.


Thank you to Dorothy of Pump Up Your Book Promotion and the author, Karen White, for the opportunity to participate in this book tour.

See What Others Had to Say About This Book:
The Book Czar
Cafe of Dreams
Diary of an Eccentric
S. Krishna's Books
Savvy Verse & Wit (Author's Guest Post)

Review: A Jolly Good Fellow by Stephen V. Masse

"You don't mind if I stay?"

I look at him, try to figure out if he means it for real. Maybe he thinks I'm a relative, or one of his father's flunkies. "Of course you're gonna stay."

"Because I need certain things, he says. "Like for breakfast, Cap'n Crunch and Fruit Loops, and Frosted Flakes. And Hostess Doughnuts. Then for lunch, macaroni and cheese, frozen pizza, stuff like that." [pg 5]


A Jolly Good Fellow by Stephen V. Masse
Good Harbor Press, 2008
Crime Fiction (S/T); 203 pgs


Things could not have worked out better for Duncan Wagner when 11-year-old Gabriel Booker jumps in his car a week before Christmas. He was hitchhiking in an effort to run away from home. You see, Duncan had been trying to kidnap the state representative’s son, and the boy’s sudden appearance in his car made it all the more easy.

The two make an odd pair, this kidnapper and boy. While Duncan tries to play the role of the tough kidnapper, he fails miserably at it. He has too big of a heart. And his prey, Gabriel, isn’t exactly playing his part either. He sees the kidnapping as an escape from his parents; it’s an adventure of sorts. The two form a fast friendship during the week that Duncan waits for Win Booker to pay his son’s ransom.

The story is narrated by Duncan in his own vernacular, which makes for an effective mode of storytelling and keeps the book moving right along. Stephen V. Masse’s novel is both funny and charming even if predictable. It is easy to see why Duncan would fall for Gabriel, a sweet and polite boy who is looking for attention and someone to listen to him. Despite his lifestyle of crime, Duncan has a good heart and, even in the worst of situations tries to do the right thing. It makes it impossible not to like him. A Jolly Good Fellow is a lighthearted and fun holiday story.

Rating: (Good)


Be sure and check out the author's website. If you would like to follow Stephen V. Masse's tour in progress, visit the Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tours blog.


Thank you to Tracee Gleichner of Pump Up Your Book Promotion and the author Stephen V. Masse for the opportunity to participate in this book tour.


Read what others had to say about this book:
Bobbi's Book Nook (Interview with Author)
The Book Czar
Book-a-rama
Heidi's Books
Julie's Jewels
Keep This On the DL
Literarily
Tip of the Iceberg (Interview with Author)

Review: Belly of the Whale by Linda Merlino

I must have passed out because I don’t remember who put me on this gurney without a blanket. [First Sentence]


Belly of the Whale by Linda Merlino
Kunati, 2008
Fiction; 199 pgs

I almost decided against reading Linda Merlino's book, Belly of the Whale. It hits too close to home. Breast cancer has affected not only my mother and both of my grandmothers, but I lost a friend to cancer this past summer and the wound is still too fresh. Even just thinking about her now, the tears well up in my eyes. She was such a strong soul. Outwardly, she never wavered in her faith and hope, but I imagine there were times when she did doubt and feel angry at the circumstances she was in much like Linda Merlino’s protagonist, Hudson Catalina.

Hudson Catalina's mother was a victim to breast cancer, losing her battle when Hudson was 14 years old. It was very difficult on the Catalina family, and Hudson took her mother's illness and death hard. She worried, too, that one day her own fate would be similar to her mother's, and it turned out she was right. Her battle with breast cancer sapped everything out of Hudson. She was tired and angry. She woke up one morning, having lost all faith and hope. Her husband and best friend, ever the optimists, did not understand the low that Hudson had reached. They weren't ready to give up--never would be most likely. Hudson felt alone.

Hudson's new resolve that her death to cancer was on the horizon would be challenged in a way she could never have anticipated. A night visit to the local market to pick up last minute party supplies for her daughter's 5th birthday would change her life forever.

Ruby Desmond, owner of the Whales Market, is strong in her faith and has led a full life. She knows what it is like to have suffered great loss. She understands a little bit about how Hudson must be feeling and Hudson finds herself drawn to the woman and her stories about the past. Willy Wu is also working that night at the market. Willy Wu is a simple man with special needs. It is obvious he cares about Ruby immensely and takes his job seriously. With a fierce storm carrying on outside the doors of the market, the three settle in for a long night not realizing that danger was just around the corner.

Linda Merlino captures the emotions of the characters in such a way that had me feeling what they were feeling as the story unfolded. What stood out the most to me was Hudson’s feeling of despair and complete loss of hope. Similarly, there is the character of Buddy Baker, who was in an even darker place for he had given up long ago. Buddy has had a difficult life. He is a product of his environment and as a result is full of anger and pain. He is in a downward spiral with no end in sight, and I felt that with every turn of the page.

Belly of the Whale is a moving story about one woman's internal struggle with the fate she has been dealt. And yet it is also a story about family and friendship as well as one of courage and hope even in the most tragic of circumstances. The story builds bit by bit, humor suffused with very serious situations. Linda Merlino is a talented writer who has written a heart wrenching story that had me in tears by the end.

Rating: (Good +)

Be sure and check out the author's blog and her website. If you would like to follow Linda's tour in progress, visit the Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tours blog in October.

Thank you to Tracee Gleichner of Pump Up Your Book Promotion for the opportunity to participate in this book tour.


Read what others had to say about this book:
The Book Czar
Bookish Ruth
Cafe of Dreams
Literarily