A Tourist in the Yucatan

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining thriller adventure!
Review: Like the previous reviewer, I purchased this book because of the glowing reviews. I really was not expecting much, I am leary of new authors from small publishers. The only reason I purchased the book was that I have toured many of the Mayan Ruin sites, so I had that connection. I am happy to report that I was pleasantly surprised! I found the book to be a fun entertaining read. It has more punch then most the stuff I read from this genre. My reading tastes range pretty wide from the esoteric to the commercial (check out my other reviews in my about you area), and I agree that TOURIST is not great literature but it does fill the need for a day at the beach or on the plane. The author does a great job of devolping a cast of great characters, and manages to develop a crediable thriller plot that incorperates the mystery of the anceint Mayans. I did note a couple small editorial errors (what book doesn't these days?) but they did not distract from my overall enjoyment of the book. I think if you have been or are going to the Yucatan you would especially enjoy this book

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant thriller!
Review: My husband bought this book before our trip to Cancun. We did not realize we had planned our trip during hurricane season (I guess that is why we got such good deals!) I am not typically a big reader, especially of fiction, but with with a few stormy days to pass I started this book. I was quickly hooked and could not put it it back down! The story concerns a young American couple that is on holiday in the Yucatan when the wife goes missing. The husband goes half-mad trying to figure out what happended to her while at the same time finding himself on the run from the Mexican Police, and other assorted bad characters. Aside from the brilliant thriller story, with plenty of juicy sub-plots, the author does a great job describing the ancient ruin sites of the Mayan's - Chichen Itza and Coba. In fact, since the diving was so poor (because of the storms) we took an unplanned tour of Chichen Itza and it ended up being the highlight of our trip! I can highly recommend this for beach reading for any one looking for a great story and also learn a little about the Yucatan.

Rating:
Summary: Action, adventure, thrills, and Mystery! Great Combo!
Review: Nothing too serious here, but it is an entertaining fast read that kept me turning the pages. The basic story line has already been covered by others here, so I won't rehash the plot. I thought the author did a great job of taking the mystery of the ancient Mayans and developing a credible modern day thriller plot around it. I especially enjoyed the descriptions of the ancient ruin sites hidden in the jungle along with the historic colonial cities. The settings really add to the books mood. There are also a couple of great subplots that make for great reading. One negative is, that I thought there could have been more character development. My favorite character was the washed up, boozy state department hack, and I also think the Travis Horn Character would be great in a sequel. While I felt the story had a satisfying ending, not everything is tied up in a neat little bow at the end, and this may bother some - I FOUND IT REFRESHING! I also think this makes great threads for a future sequel! Overall if you like a good thriller adventure this might be the book for you!


Rating:
Summary: Over-hyped
Review: This is a fair book with a lot of repetition, too many for my taste. I observed for over a year that this is a highly recommended book by readers. My guess is that Brumfield has many friends who reviewed the book and rated it so highly. It lacks a certain sophistication. Good effort, but many better works in this genre.