Rating: 
Summary: Entry Level Arturo
Review: Perez-Reverte is at his most accessable in this Iberian soaked tale of drugs, death and defiance. Typically, his female lead is gutsy, gritty, gorgeous and ruminates on the eternal 'whys' of fate, love, mercy and cruelty.
The Queen of the South is tightly paced compared to many of Perez-Reverte's other novels and perhaps because of this the depth of nuance found in The Fencing Master or The Nautical Chart, is missing here. Still we cannot help but want more.
Perez-Reverte writes with a touch that is personal to everyone and accessable to many. The Queen of the South may also be the best-translated of his novels. For those new to the genre, its a great entry point into the best Spanish-speaking literature we have today.
Rating: 
Summary: Five +. Could be a "Godfather" if it was written in the U.S.
Review: Teresa Mendoza reminds me a little of Matty Walker in Body Heat, the searing, thrilling, sensual movie of 1980's fame. We're not really sure of how Matty got to where she is when we first see her, and like that, we really aren't certain of where we start with Teresa.
Certainly, Perez-Reverte seems to paint a picture of innocence when 'the phone rings.' Sexy innocence. I can't recall any novel of such intense excitement beginning with the heroine shaving her legs. But maybe Perez-Reverte is having a joke on us. Perhaps he's saying, 'not innocence my friend, but naivete. Untested. Unaware.' Once she gets to her safe house a few pages later she takes a hit of coke. All is not as we first perceived. Come to think of it, most if not all of Perez-Reverte's characters are never as first observed.
He is a remarkable author, a combination of all of our "name" brands writing in Spain, certainly popular all over Europe and now with a substantial following in the US. And this is a remarkable book with heavy doses of greed, sexism, crime, desire, retribution and redemption.
When her lover, Guero Davilla, a pilot smuggling drugs is killed, she knows she will be next. Such is the way it will be in Sinola, Mexico, he warns her repeatedly, as he left a cell phone for her with only one purpose, to tell her that he has been killed. Or tortured and killed. Then the Mexican narcotic traffickers, the narcos, will kill the entire family of the traitor. Guero says he will hold out as long as he can but eventually he will tell them where to find her. He says "the phone will ring and if you don't run, soon you will see someone you know. He will smile at you. And then you are a dead woman."
The only thing that Guero left besides $20,000 and a Colt Double Eagle pistol was a diary of events and places, and of course, names. He tells her under no circumstances should she read the diary but to turn it over to his old narco boss, don Epfanio Vargas. She does this, and the don spares her life and gives her a 24 hour start.
The other thing about Perez-Reverte is that his diction and description and dialogue are all just beautiful. He reminds me of Alan Furst who writes about pre World War Europe, detailing violent events in a rich, deep style.
The journey takes Mendoza one step away from death to one of the most powerful drug lords in the world. She's a strong, beautiful character. The story is detailed in narrative style told to and through a journalist. The characters are rich and three dimensional. A great story rivaling in intensity some of the greatest crime tales in America. 5 Stars, could have been twice as many. Larry Scantlebury
Rating:
Summary: "I think there are dreams that can kill you."
Review: The drug trade throughout Mexico, Latin America, and the Mediterranean come alive in Arturo Perez-Reverte's latest novel, quite different from his intellectual mysteries. Here he writes the "biography" of Teresa Mendoza, a young woman from Sinaloa, Mexico, who becomes the mastermind of a multimillion dollar drug empire operating from Marbella, Spain. This novel's challenge lies not in an intellectual puzzle, but in understanding the business networks Teresa builds with drug lords from Russia, Italy, Morocco, and Colombia, along with various agents of government whom she buys off. As she becomes a successful businesswoman, known as "The Queen of the South," the suspense develops: Will she stay alive? And how?
The story begins in Mexico when Teresa is twenty-three. Uneducated but attractive, she is in love with Guero Davila, a Chicano pilot involved in shipping coca. When she suddenly receives a phone call telling her to run for her life, she does so, escaping through Mexico City into Spain, and then Morocco. Putting her knowledge of drug transportation to work by involving herself in hash-running between Morocco and Spain, she ends up with a short jail sentence but an important friendship with another inmate, Patty O'Farrell, the rebellious daughter of a wealthy Spanish family. When they are released, they set up a big-time drug trafficking business, with Teresa running the show and becoming, eventually, the person with whom everyone in the business must deal.
Teresa's story is not told in linear fashion. An unnamed speaker/narrator, presumably Perez-Reverte himself, has come to Sinaloa to investigate and describe Teresa Mendoza's life and business. Interviewing everyone with any information, he inserts himself and his interviews into the narrative. Soon the line begins to blur between fiction and fact, since some of the people he interviews, such as the three people to whom he dedicates the novel, are, in fact, real people who are included as characters in the novel. These add depth and a fine sense of realism to the novel.
Although Teresa Mendoza is not a character with whom the reader will identify, the author develops a certain amount of sympathy for her. Teresa is an entrepreneur of great intelligence, and this, combined with her ability to avoid creating any sort of trail that will implicate her legally, keeps her going in her dog-eat-dog world. The novel is episodic but fast paced, despite the sometimes unwelcome intrusions of the narrator/speaker, and Perez-Reverte succeeds in presenting a broad, intriguing picture of the business of drug smuggling and those who make it their careers. Mary Whipple
Rating:
Summary: Blown away
Review: The reportage style of "Queen of the South" fits Arturo Perez Reverte like a glove. Creating female characters has never been his strong point, and using an observer's eye to tell most of Teresa Mendoza's story works very well. Where you usually hear that good non-fiction "reads like a novel" here we have a fiction that reads like an investigative report in a quality magazine-one of those addictive pieces you think would make a great book.And it has. The Spanish novelist's latest is the story of Teresa Mendoza, who rose from being a drug smuggler's sweetie in Mexico's narco-capital of Culiacan, Sinaloa, to running one of the largest and most successful drug enterprises on the Mediterranean. There's no play for sympathy for Teresa, no descriptions of her childhood (except for Teresa's brief recall of her mother "washing dirty dishes in a tub in the backyard and sleeping with drunken neighbors"). Teresa does not ask for sympathy or expect it. She is never innocent. In Culiacan there is no mercy, no consideration. The place has evolved into a Colombian-style society of sociopaths, and she has learned to take what's offered and keep her eyes peeled. The inevitable happens at the start of "Queen of the South" and Teresa is on the run from page one. There are no heroes in this book; it is an unflinching portrait of an ugly world. The paranoia, manipulation, and joylessness of the drug enterprise is fascinating, with only one character in it for the thrill. Threaded through with the lyrics of Mexican narco-corridos, "Queen of the South" peels back the skin of modern drug cartels. This is an exciting, creepy read.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece of Storytelling!!!
Review: Theresa Mendoza is The Queen of the South and Arturo Perez-Reverte is the King of Great Story Tellers. This is a work of fiction which reads like fact and will hold the reader from page one to page four hundred thirty six. The story revolves around the international drug trade with all of its seaminess, danger and excess. It is about loyalty, betrayal, and intrigue and is as good a book as you will read all year. As the story opens a cell phone is ringing and the fact that it is tells Mendoza that she has to run for her life. The phone was given to her by her boyfriend who was called "the king of the short runways" due to his ability to take a small plane loaded with cocaine off a runway of less than a thousand feet. He told her if it ever rings, he is dead and she must run for her life. She does and what a run it is. This book will cost you some sleep but the reward from having read it will make it all worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting & fun
Review: What a fabulous story! I listened to the audio version (wonderfully done, btw) and found myself reluctant to leave my car so tranfixed was I. I plan on adding this book to my library & recommend that you do,too.
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