Dr Marina Singh works for a pharmaceutical company. Her partner in the laboratory, Dr Anders Eckman travels to the Amazon jungle to check on Dr Annick Swenson, who has been doing a research for a new drug, very pricy for the company, and hasn't given reports about it. After weeks of no correspondence, a letter from Dr Swenson arrives saying Eckman is dead. What? When? How?
There are no answers in the short communication. Consequently, Marina is sent to the jungle with two purposes: to discovers what is behind Eckman's death (to start with, where is the body?) and to extract information from Dr Swenson about the new drug. She is sent by her boss Mr Fox.
However, not everything is what appears to be.
1- Mr Fox is not only Marina's boss, but also her (secret) lover.
2- Dr Swenson is not only the scientist who is developing a new drug, but she is also Marina's former mentor, and shares with her a tragic moment in Marina's life.
3- The narrative is not only adventurouss and intriguing, but imaginative and colourful. You can feel the humidity of the jungle air coming off the pages, the characters' decisions hiding obscure intentions, the carnavalesque Bovenders, Rodrigo's unvaluable help, 'Easter' pizzling identity, and more!!!!
Ann Patchett's timing is excellent, keeping the pace of the narrative as she includes information to build the characters' past and present. In few lines, she unearths important data for the plot as you have to be careful not to skip content essential for you to understand the development of the mystery.
Learning and entertainment together, this novel will keep you awake long hours past your bedtime, unable to stop reading, to close the book, to leave the jungle.
Ana Ovejero
mail: ana.ovejero@gmail.com
instagram:ananbooks
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