2006 thriller, eleventh in the Carlotta Carlyle series (neo-noir private
investigation). Carlotta's "little sister" Paolina is missing.
I keep asking for more Paolina in these books, and this time we
get some, albeit mostly in cut-aways to what she's doing between
chunks of Carlotta's investigation. I'm not in general a fan of
criminal- or victim-viewpoint in mysteries, but this isn't really a
mystery; there's some question over who the kidnappers are, but
there's very little doubt that kidnapping has happened. More to the
point, we get to learn more about how Paolina thinks.
On Carlotta's side, we get extended scenes in Miami, then in urban and
rural Colombia. As Barnes has done before, there's a bit more research
than the usual superficial everybody-knows stuff, and this Colombia is
rather more complex than merely corrupt cops and drug dealers
everywhere. The pre-invasion culture gets an interesting angle too.
But as always the story is anchored on the people, as well as
on Carlotta's interior monologue as she conducts investigation – often
fruitlessly, but the small procedural details work well. Later the
narrative shifts to more of an action focus, which this series has
mostly tended to avoid, but it's handled well.
Not, perhaps, one of the best books in the context of the series, but
rather fine in its own right.
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