Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

This sounded promising, started out strong and then became strange. In addition, it was a long book that probably could have been edited down to a shorter story. Too much filler for my liking.

#ShadowsAcrossAmerica #NetGalley

For a thriller, and I have to admit to not being a great fan of the genre, this started quite promisingly. A young man sets out on a perilous quest to find the daughter of an ex-partner who has been kidnapped in Central America. The South American mafia, the Mara, are involved somehow, and not surprisingly there’s a good amount of violence depicted. To be fair, the author handles this quite well and I didn’t feel that the violence was gratuitous or overdone. After all, Central America is hardly a peaceful part of the world. The hunt for the girl becomes more and more complicated, but that’s ok too. Up to a point. The last third of the book unfortunately went completely to pot. Suddenly a mystical element creeps in, then we get Nazis and flashbacks to 1930s Europe, then we have a prolonged and unnecessary torture scene, included, presumably, simply for the sake of having a prolonged torture scene. For me the last part of the book was a great disappointment. I’d just about kept with the narrative up to then, but finally it lost me. The supernatural element sat uneasily with the all too realistic violence of life in Central America, and I felt that the author lost sight of exactly what sort of book he was writing. Definitely a mixed bag of a book and not one I can recommend.