Review by
Darcie Czajkowski
Andres Jimenez’s wife is gone. She’s left him for a second time,
and this time she’s not coming back.
Andres finds a note in the mail from Marabella. This is it, he thinks. She’s gone forever. But instead of
confirming that she left him, Andres is blindsided by the news that she was kidnapped.
He is horrified. His hometown of Lima, Peru is notorious for kidnappings,
sadistic people looking to pilfer money anywhere they can, regardless of who
gets hurt. But Andres never thought it would happen to him. To his wife. To his
family which includes his young daughter, Cynthia, and teenage son, Ignacio.
One million dollars. That’s the ransom price. How is he expected
to come up with that amount of money? His printing business is successful by Peruvian
standards, but he’s not a millionaire by American standards.
With the aid of a kidnapping consultant, Andres attempts to
negotiate a lower price for his wife’s return, all the while wondering how he
can put a price on her life. Adding to his mounting stress is the knowledge
that he and his wife have been embroiled in a strained, distant marriage for
some time now and he wonders: if she returns, will she just leave again, this
time of her own volition and for good? Will his childhood best friend, Elena,
be able to offer insight into Marabella’s experience given that she was
kidnapped years prior?
Natalia Sylvester uses the vehicle of a kidnapping to delve into
the inner workings of a troubled marriage. Even though I was perplexed by the
blend of English and Spanish in the characters’ conversations in a
Spanish-speaking country, I was captivated by the drama of how the negotiations
would unspool and how the situation would affect Andres’s and Marabella’s
marriage. Would Marabella be so violated and traumatized by the event that she
would never be the same again? Would the event rekindle a common bond between
them? Or perhaps she wouldn’t even make it back to her family alive? I voraciously
read this book to learn how these issues would be resolved. While I was
startled by the abruptness of the ending, I appreciate a believable, realistic conclusion
which I believe is what I got. I recommend this book to lovers of literary
fiction, those curious about Lima in the nineties during a time of political
unrest, and those interested in a pleasurable amalgam of drama and suspense. A
solid, satisfying first novel from Natalia Sylvester.
About the
Author:
Born in Lima, Peru, Natalia Sylvester came to the U.S. at age
four and grew up in South Florida, where she received a B.A. in Creative
Writing from the University of Miami. A former magazine editor, she now works
as a freelance writer in Austin, Texas. CHASING THE SUN, partially inspired by
family events, is her first novel.
Connect with the author at:
