Will This Become Another Dumb Movie on Colombia?

HEART OF THE WORLD By Linda Barnes // St. Martin's Minotaur. // 336 pp. $24.95

Book Review by Patrick Anderson.

To read fiction, it is said, we must suspend disbelief. But how much? There are limits to what we will swallow, and a lot depends on the writing. "Heart of the World," Linda Barnes's 11th novel about the Boston private eye Carlotta Carlyle, is an example of how we must sometimes weigh the quality of the prose against the strain on credulity.

Carlyle is a feisty, sexy, red-haired, hot-tempered ex-cop who calls to mind Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone. Where men are concerned, she's living proof that ladies love outlaws: She's having an affair with a good-looking Mafia prince named Sam Gianelli. She is also deeply attached to Paolina, a 15-year-old girl whom she met in a Big Sister/Little Sister program. Paolina has a mother who doesn't love her and a father she's never met because he is (or was) a Colombian drug lord and revolutionary.

As the novel begins, the girl is missing. Carlyle's feverish search takes her from frozen Boston to sweltering Colombia, where she confronts dangerous characters until she is pumped full of drugs and carried to the jungle hideaway of the drug lord, Roldan. Except he's not a drug lord anymore. He's had a spiritual conversion, and he's now the protector of an Indian tribe, the Kogi, who chew coca, practice ancient forms of magic and have a large supply of gold. It does not escape the attention of the outlaw-prone Carlyle that the charismatic Roldan is a hunk ("A woman could get lost in those eyes"), but mostly she focuses on finding her beloved Paolina, whose plight is part of a plot to separate the Kogi from their treasure.

At one point, the ex-drug lord is leading the Boston PI up a Colombian mountainside, and she reflects, "Who would dream I was here, climbing the highest coastal range on earth in flimsy sandals?" Who indeed? And yet Barnes, whose previous books have won or been nominated for numerous mystery awards, tells her often-far- fetched story gracefully, even persuasively. If you are willing to accept a certain fairy-tale aura -- at one point in the mountains, Carlyle chews coca leaves, and her "feet felt like they were floating inches off the path" -- and embrace Carlyle as a fearless woman who would charge the gates of hell for the love of a child, "Heart of the World" is an entertaining read.

The Washington Post Company May 15, 2006

By platano on May 21, 2006, 21:59 in Friendly Talkzone.

dwmte says on May 23, 2006, 18:49:

very nice review, platano... i think you missed your calling.

you should have been a book worm instead of an antagonist...

dw

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platano says on May 23, 2006, 18:55:

peacekeeper dwmte, I cannot deny your description. How can I purge myself of the evil demon antagoniste? Why do I need to provoke people and argue? Should I have been a lawyer? Am I afraid of being a protagonist hero? Should I see a shrink? I am asking for your help. Please advise.

Thank you. Asalaam waleikum!

plátano

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dwmte says on May 24, 2006, 03:43:

hell, buddy.... the best shrink i ever met lives between the ears...or there abouts.

like the prophet said...take up the REAL jihad against the enemy in your heart.

says a lot about all the horseshit bandied about by wanna be jihadists, doesn't it. i saw a blog some time back that in the last 5 yrs, there have been in excess of 10,000 islamic terrorist attacks where in, in excess of 70% of the victims were islamics. wow!

would that the leaders of this nonsense would teach planting flowers, cleaning up communities and yards (i wonder if islamics ever look around and see just how 'fucked' their world really is?) they might stop persecuting their women and act--even if only remotely--like the prophet, with compassion, forgiveness, love, etc.

just another day in suck city for folks having the horrible fate of living (if it can be called that) in the moslem world. as you know, i'm not anti-moslem, i think you know that. on the contrary, i'm anti asshole. these folks somehow think that martyrs (that's a synonym for murderer) are going to heaven and gonna hang out with 70 virgins. what a laugh. too, that the honor killing of women who have been victims of rape is a sign of real manhood. now there's an oxymoron if i ever saw one.

hey, brother, how the fuck did i get off on this drool? must be heavy on my mind. i'm tired of waking up daily hearing how the religious devout have bombed a school, killed women and children and once again, missed a chance to miss a chance. shit, this could go on for the whole day and i'd never get the worst of it off my chest.

i'm gonna visit my shrink...

dw

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platano says on May 24, 2006, 06:46:

dwmte, I saw a documentary of the history of Islam last week. Apparently shortly after the founding of the religion there was a split and the two groups were killing each other. Then when they said the name of the two groups: Shia and Sunnis... I thought, whoa... 1,300 years they been at this? That's a real Hatfield-McCoy for you! (and people still believe in violence as a means to "solve problems" : let's spend some more billions on armies and weapons and box cutters).

Thanks for the real, specific, and truthful answer to my question: it is between the ears!

plátano

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platano says on May 24, 2006, 07:57:

Tinto, Shrinks specialize in working with what's between the ears (as well as with using the ears themselves).

plátano

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dwmte says on May 24, 2006, 10:28:

you're right about the two factions of islam... the shias were led by ali, son in law of mohammed, married to his daughter, fatima.

the sunnis, were led by abubekhr the first/top diciple of mohammed.

the differences on the surface seem insignificant, but serious thought on the subject will show that the differences are quite profound.

put simply, the shias, believe that all is from GOD. the sunnis, contrarily, believe that all IS GOD. a difference seemingly small, is in it's final outcome highly profound.

the majority of the deepest thought in islam is from the sunnis. as wit, the likes of shibli (abubekhr) shams tabriz, rumi, et al. not to be shortchanged, the shias have produced such luminaries as hafiz, saadi, attar (read 'the conference of the birds')et al.

however, in days of late, it is the sunnis who have perpetrated far more violence and mayhem than their brothers the shias. the wahabis (those of knosis) are without a doubt the most intolerant bunch of louts living amongst man. their first conclusion in virtually all situations is use violence first; if that doesn't work, use more! the shias are not quite so hot headed.

i read in some on line post that somewhere between 5 and 10% of the world's gross domestic product was being spent directly or indirectly on dealing with islamic terrorism. pity.one would think that men and women would far prefer raising, teaching, loving, and cherishing their children, rather than burying them. si o no?

peace,

douglas

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