Escape from the system?
Sports journalist Russell Martell is on holiday in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico . His wife Rosalita has recently died and Russell feels lost and hurt, drifting through life. Then his journalistic senses begin to come alive as he starts to get the hints of stories: not sports stories, but crime and current events, with a hint of politics. What is the real story behind a body found in strange circumstances near the beach front? Is the rumor of a police raid on a suburban house really connected to drug cartels? Who is the colorful character Devon (Devo) that appears to be making a splash in town, at least according to the bar scuttlebutt? All these questions seem to draw together, but only more questions emerge. Soon Russell and his friend, Johnny Miles, will become caught up in an adventure where mystery and uncertainty abounds. How will ordinary citizens survive, let alone take action in a world of gangs, police and government? Seve Verdad’s Finding Devo: A Novel Adventure is a story of mystery and action which will intrigue and excite the reader as they follow Russell and Johnny in their desperate attempt to escape disaster.
Verdad writes well and he lifts his prose with colorful phrases, giving interesting atmospheric descriptions and character details. Describing Devo, for example, Verdad writes: “But he is smooth. Smooth as a pythons belly. Smooth as a razor blade, a bullet, a warhead” (Ch. 83). Much of the book varies between chapters in first person narrative, giving Russell’s point of view, and chapters in third person narrative, giving the perspective of various other characters. This change in viewpoint works well to keep the story complex and interesting. The text contains quite a liberal scattering of Mexican Spanish. Sometimes an English translation is given and sometimes not. The lack of translation is at first annoying, but the reader soon notices that these phrases are not of critical importance to the plot. The book can certainly be enjoyed without knowledge of Spanish. There is occasional offensive language, both in English and Spanish, but probably less than occurs in most people’s common language. Only the most conservative will be offended. Occasionally there are nice hints of irony. For example Joaquín ‘Garras’ de Jesús, a brutal federal agent, is depicted “imagining his garras [claws] wrapped around the necks of those who might be responsible for such a barbaric massacre” (Ch. 48). Who is the barbarian we wonder? Similarly there is a nice contrast between Garras meditating in order to concentrate his powers of destruction (Ch. 48) and Russell meditating in order to survive pain (Ch. 50). As a point of criticism it should be noted that the first half of the book is, in sections, a bit too wordy. The party which Russell attends gets quite a few chapters allocated to it even though it is just one night. Similarly the revelations from the computer disk, which the police find, go on chapter after chapter, even though we quickly get the basic idea of what they are saying and their relevance. Also the bomb explosion gets several chapters, each one from a different character’s perspective, even though the basic response of all is shock. These sections could have been condensed to make the plot move at a swifter pace. After Chapter 50, however, the book really takes off and never slows until the very finish. This point should not be overemphasized. It would be wrong to say that the first half of the book is boring: it is just a little slow in some sections.
The novel is divided into three parts. Book I Fiesta (Ch. 1 – 28) gives an overview of the circumstances in all its many complications, introducing the reader to the book’s many main characters. This section is characterized by questions and mystery. Book II Rain (Ch. 29 – 83) is a narration of disaster, then capture and escape. It begins slowly but escalates midway into a high action and adventure narration. Book III Camacho (Ch. 84 – 114) is a further story of escape in which questions are answered and resolution is given. It should be noted, however, that even at the end of the book there are still some open questions, and indeed the reader wonders if Verdad plans a sequel. This is not a book where everything is tied up neatly.
