Romantic Suspense published by Kensington Books 28 Mar 23
I found this story confusing and, in the end, not very suspenseful. It felt like the author had two stories she wanted to tell and couldn’t decide which one to pick and so ended up with both. I actually thought somehow the Kindle version of the story got compromised and another book got inserted into the middle of mine.
Mateo Castillo is a rising chef. He ends up in the ER with a high dose of mercury in his blood. There he meets this fascinating doctor, who diagnoses him and tells him to cut back on the seafood. Considering that Mateo works in a seafood restaurant, that’s a tall order, but, nevertheless, he seems to be doing well when bam, he’s back in the ER with a higher-than-normal dose again. Clearly, something’s going on and it’s up to Mateo and the beautiful doctor to investigate and get to the truth before Mateo dies.
The story then shifts to this family in Colombia who are inadvertently targeted by the cartel and have to escape. They use an underground railway that is run by the local church and the pastor. Eventually the younger couple immigrates to the US, having saved an infant along the way. This infant is now Mateo grown up. Once I got over the confusion of the total shift in the story and realized the infant is Mateo, I thought Mateo is probably a child of one of the cartel higher-ups and his past has caught up with him.
There are some definite positives when you get past all the confusion. The story of the escape from Colombia and resettlement is compelling. While the suspense is rushed and the resolution to the mystery a somewhat non-event, the romance is sweet and heartfelt and the ending with Mateo being able to find his passion to feed the hungry and teach the poor is a worthy ambition.
Despite all this, I truly enjoy stories by this author and will continue to seek them out and read her books in the future as well.
Grade: C
Summary:
Mateo Castillo is a rising star chef on the Manhattan culinary scene. But just as he’s about to reap the rewards of his skill and hard work by being featured on a major TV cooking competition, Mateo collapses in his restaurant’s kitchen—and regains consciousness in a hospital emergency room.
If it weren’t for a security guard finding him in time, Mateo would have bled to death. The cause of his sudden illness is as mysterious as it is worrying, and Mateo and his family undergo a battery of genetic tests. Yet the answers that start to emerge only raise more questions.
Mateo’s parents fled their home in Colombia many years ago, seeking refuge from the infamous cartels. Now the test results threaten to uncover a dark secret that exposes his family to dangers from the past—while clouding the investigation into who is trying to hurt Mateo in the present . . .
No excerpt available.
