Chasing the Sun: A Novel

I didn't star the review because I didn't finish this book and I don't believe it's fair to do that to an author. This book was not for me. The language and force of culture was too overt and not organic. For me, it became more about "hey - we speak Spanish" than about the characters or the plot. Marabela was to narcissistic for my taste to become a character I cared about and the hero, Andres, was dull.

I'm not alone here though. Other reviewers have said similar thoughts to this - a reviewer on Amazon notes:

"The backdrop of the situation in Peru was nothing more than a gimmick with no real purpose...a kidnapping of two women and the only reason was to make the characters realize that they were wrong for each other. I kept expecting the story to lead somewhere. It didn't."

But, a quick summary of the novel might be what snags your interest. (This summary is not my original work; it is a reproduction of text ):

Andres suspects his wife has left him—again. Then he learns that the unthinkable has happened: she’s been kidnapped. Too much time and too many secrets have come between Andres and Marabela, but now that she’s gone, he’ll do anything to get her back. Or will he?

As Marabela slips farther away, Andres must decide whether they still have something worth fighting for, and exactly what he’ll give up to bring her home. And unfortunately, the decision isn’t entirely up to him, or up to the private mediator who moves into the family home to negotiate with the terrorists holding Marabela. Andres struggles to maintain the illusion of control while simultaneously scrambling to collect his wife’s ransom, tending to the needs of his two young children, and reconnecting with an old friend who may hold the key to his past and his wife’s future.

Set in Lima, Peru, in a time of civil and political unrest, this evocative page-turner is a perfect marriage of domestic drama and suspense.