Sunday, March 1, 2009

Mexican Heat by Laura Baumbach & Josh Lanyon


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Reviewed by Pat Brown

Word of advice: handle this book with asbestos gloves.

Gabriel Sandalini is an uncover San Francisco Detective working to stop a Mexican drug cartel bent on gaining control of the drug supply in the Americas. He has been undercover for a long time and has worked his way high up in the hierarchy of the Botelli regime. Ricco Botelli is the West Coast Crime boss who wants to expand his empire with Don Sanchez, a Mexican drug king whose second lieutenant is Miguel Ortega. Botelli plans to do this through the marriage of his beloved daughter, the spoiled and willful Gina Botelli to Sanchez. But while Gina wants the power and wealth the marriage will bring her, she is infatuated with Gabriel, who she knows as Giovanni Contadino. Now he has to maintain his cover in the face of the needy Gina and her desires that could very well get him killed.

Seriously this book should come with a warning on the cover: may spontaneously combust. The chemistry between Gabriel and Miguel is incendiary. It begins the minute the two meet in a Mexican bar almost on the first page where Gabriel muses on the truth of his lonely existence. He doesn't need or want entanglements. Or so he tries to convince himself. What follows is an intense roller coaster ride through the underbelly of the Mexican drug world. Will Gabriel and Miguel, on opposite sides of the law, survive and will they reconcile their differences? Can they? One is good, one bad. Or will the heat burn out and leave them in ashes?

This is the first time Laura Baumbach and Josh Lanyon have paired as a writing team. I don't know if they plan to do it again any time soon, but if they do, I'll be in line to read the results, with a bottle of tequila on the table and a dozen limes...
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2 comments:

Unknown said...

Thank you, Pat. This is a wonderful way to celebrate the start of the series. I just hope book two will live up to the first. I'll have to think up some more drinking games for it! *g*

Laura

Anonymous said...

Also, I was wondering whether you do any private consulting? I'd be interested in hiring someone like yourself.
No matter how you slice it, life is full of random shit like this. Better get used to it.
I blog about pretty important issues, but my blog has recently been suspended, any ideas why?
I was once trying to write jokes, and it didn't turn out too well. I'm not the brightest lightbulb, and I live with my mom.

I'm not a complete idiot - several parts are missing.