Rod Zimmerman

I really liked it. The characters are lively and well-defined, especially Lydia, Luca, the Honduran sisters, and El Chacon. The book is very well written. The action is fast-paced. I couldn't wait to discover what happened in the next chapter. My only (mild) complaint is that I didn't understand all the Spanish slang and I had to ask my son, who teaches Spanish, what some of them meant. I am a long time fan of women writers, e.g., Amy Tan, Terry McMillan, Maxine Hong Kingston, Laura Joh Rowland, and Marcia Muller to name a few. I am a bookseller and I agree the publisher over-hyped the book. But then, publishers often do.