A Tourist in the Yucatan

Rating:
Summary: Awful
Review: A self-published book AND it shows. A Tourist In The Yucatan is the worst book I've ever read. The author must have took crib notes from saturday morning cartoons. The dialogue is awful, the plot worse. The characters are cartoon stick figures controlled by a heavy handed author. Don't buy into the glowing reviews or the reviews of other books telling you this is the best book ever. This book is awful, never should have been published.

Rating:
Summary: A Fun Read and Preview for My Upcoming Yucatan Vacation
Review: About a month ago, I booked our family's flight to Cancun for our summer vacation with the idea that we would spend some time at the beach and some time exploring Mayan ruins. I ordered some travel guides to help me plan our trip, and this book showed up as one other customers who ordered the guides also ordered. I decided "What the heck..." and ordered it too. I am glad I did. I really enjoyed this book and it helped me plan our vacation. (We will definitely visit Coba in addition to Chichen Itza and Uxmal.) It also convinced me that our decision to visit Mexico this summer is a good one.

Although I noticed the grammatical errors referred to by other reviewers, I am still giving this book five stars. These errors did not interfere with my reading or enjoyment of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent thriller! Highly recommended!
Review: I am planning a trip to the Yucatan and stumbled across this book. After reading the reviews, I decided to read it. I am so glad I did. This is the best book I have read in quite some time (ignoring the minor spelling and grammatical errors). The plot is fast moving and interesting. I took the day off work yesterday in order to finish the book, and am glad I did.

Rating:
Summary: Thrills and mystery in the Yucatan Jungle!
Review: I found this to be an entertaining thriller that delivered on a number of levels. It is a interesting thriller that entwines the mystery of the ancient Mayans into the plot in a credible way. The reader is also taken on a very descriptive tour of the Yucatan from the ancient ruin sites to historic Spanish colonial cities. The story starts out with a bang in the first chapter with a failed Drug deal, on the car ferry to Isla Mujares. Then the reader is introduced to Jack and Jo Philips, a young couple touring the Yucatan outback. The pace slows here as the couple visits the ancient Mayan site Chichen Itza. They befriend an interesting fellow who is traveling alone and they decide to continue their travels as a group. But this man is not who he seems to be and the Phillip's Idyllic vacation is soon shattered! I don't want to ruin any surprises but the main plot is average guy being caught up in a situation that is over his head and over which he has no control. The author weaves in a number of subplots into main story and in the end makes it all come togther with out the reader having to suspend belife. I also liked the way the author mixed elements from different generes into a complete story - adventure, suspense, mystery. I highly recommend A TOURIST IN THE YUCATAN.


Rating:
Summary: Interesting & Entertaining thriller by a new author
Review: I have never written a review before but I met the author at a book signing at my local Borders Book store. He asked me to write a review when I finished reading the book, so here I am. This is the story of a young couple who get into trouble while on an adveture tour of the Yucatan. The main character is Jack Phillips who is just a normal everyday guy who gets caught up in a bad situation. I don't want to spoil the plot but there are plenty of twists, action, violence, mystery, and a little sex. The background of the Mayan ruin sites and culture makes for an excellent backdrop for the story. While this is no literary classic I enjoyed it more then 90% of what I read in this genre. As has already been mentioned it is a great beach read. If I had one complaint it would be that the author could have spent more time on character development. As another reviewer mentioned, this might have been dificult due to the many chacters involved, and the many chacters are also what made this book so much fun to read. Overall this is an exciting and interesting thriller.

In scrolling through the reviews of this book I did notice a deep split in the reviewers perceptions of this book. It seems like people either love it or hate it. Lots of 4 and 5 star reviews, a few 1 and 2 star reviews, but hardly any 3 star reviews. Some mention they found the book to be poorly editied, I did not find this to be a problem, but I also admit that english was not my favorite class in highschool. Other complaints centered around the dialog and the belivability of the characters and or plot. This must just be a matter of taste as I found the plot fascinating, and the dialog relistic. I also liked the way the author developed realistic action - there are no scenes of the hero jumping out of a Jet at 20,000 feet and landing unharmed without a parachute. whta happens makes sense and seems possible. Anyway, I recommend you read through the reviews before purchasing this book, especially if you are a literary snob type of person (I dont mean this in a bad way, but you know who you are!). But if you like good action adventure and thrills definitly check out this book.

Rating:
Summary: Under Hyped!!! Great book would make a great movie!
Review: I read this book 4 years ago when it was first released. At that time it was very hard to find. Luckly because of its underground following it was picked up for wide spread release in 2004. I Just finished the 2nd edition, and it is a step-up from the original, with an attractive cover, and substantial editing. I thourghly enjoyed the original but it is nice to see the book in a more professional package (though I am keeping my original copy, should be a collectors item someday!). I won't rehash the story, its been done enough here already, but it is a great mix of intrigue, adventure, mystery, and thrills! I especially love the scenes At the ancient Mayan Ruin site of Coba and exploring the lost tomb of the bearded man! The author cleverly weaves a tale that involves the ancient cites hidden in the jungle with the modern day drug wars currently errupting in Cancun (the stories I've read about that are better then fiction!). I liked "Da Vinci Code" but enjoyed this book even more and it would make an awesome movie! Come on Hollywood, this would be better than "Da Vinci Code" or "National Treasure" I want to see it on film!

Rating:
Summary: Fun Escapest reading!
Review: I though this book was a great combination of Thriller, adventure, and Mystery! The story is set in the Jungles, colonial cities and ancient Mayan ruin sites of the Yucatan. A married couple (American yuppies) meet a charsimatic fellow on the bus ride to Chichen Itza. I don't want to say too much but the wife dissappears and much of the story involves the husband trying discover what happened to her, while at the sametime he is trying to avoid the Federales and other assorted nasty characters. There are some good sub-plots, discovery of an ancient Mayan tomb, An alcoholic State Department hack trying to solve the deaths of some Washington VIPs. The author seems to have good knowledge of his settings and the ancient Mayans. If you are looking for something that does not follow genre rules, this might be the book for you. I noted that some of the other reviewers hammered this book, I think they are just literary snobs! This is not the "Great American" Novel, but it is a fun read -- much better than most the Junk I read.

Rating:
Summary: Well thought out thriller in a great location!
Review: I thought this was a well thought out, and intelligent mystery/thriller with a great setting. I maybe biased as I have traveled to Mexico many times over the years and the author knows what he is talking about--as far as the settings that is. It does have a high degree of violence, but not too gratuitous, and a little sex. It would be a good read to have while visiting the Yucatan. It also would make a great movie!

Rating:
Summary: I wish I had listened to the minority
Review: I wish I had paid more attention to the reviewer who gave this only 1 star, and less to the other glowing reviews - I hope adding my two cents will help others with a fixed book budget spend on more worthwhile publications. In buying this book, I was intrigued by the locale of the book and the thought of supporting a new, self-publishing author. Now only a quarter of the way through, I am continuing to the end only due to the geographic and historical references (the one redeeming aspect of this book is that the writer knows his locale) - and sheer obstinance. The writing style is unrefined and the editing is lousy, and the errors and omissions are jarring - this is not a relaxing read. The characters are flat (dynamics seem borrowed from whatever the author has read elsewhere). As I read this I keep thinking, no wonder he couldn't get it published. Too bad the author didn't keep refining his story before taking the step of publishing it on his own. I think it could have been a good book with more work.

Rating:
Summary: Rollins, Preston and Child have some new competition.
Review: If you enjoy stories from authors like James Rollins, Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child ... then you'll love this book too!! "Tourist" is a fascinating story that combines mystery, suspense and action with interesting historical tidbits and actual geographical references. I'm looking forward to Mr. Brumfield's next novel "Across the High Lonesome" (due out hopefully by summer 2005) and the "Tourist" sequel due out sometime in 2006.

Buy the book !!! You won't be disappointed!!!