Josh Hagarty is just a guy looking for a break. He’s got a checkered past, and he’s trying to make his amends to the world. He’s cleaned up his act, graduated college, got a degree in engineering. Now he’s strapped with debt and desperate for work. None of his job leads have worked out, and out of nowhere, he’s recruited by a charity group called NewAfrica. In a matter of days, he’s whisked away from America to a small nation state in Africa. He arrives to find a ramshackle living/working environment on the edge of an agricultural project that was left in complete disarray. Hardly what he’d expected, based on everything he was made to believe by NewAfrica. As time goes on, Josh learns that he’s not the only one with an unblemished past. Determined to try and understand just what the charity is doing, Josh discovers a world of political intrigue, black market profiteering and murder. All the while, the two African tribes that occupy the lands around him are on the brink of a civil war. Josh’s quest for truth is challenged at every turn, and when he crosses the last line, he has to outsmart not one, but two cutthroat killers who would do anything to stop him. Lords Of Corruption is a first-rate thriller. Fast-paced and fun to read. It also sheds some light on the difficulties faced by aid organizations in Africa. Of course, if you’re someone who believes that these organizations are just well-dressed scam artists, then you’ll find that this book reinforces that mindset. If you don’t care about that kinda stuff, then just read this book for the story. It’s a serious page-turner.

After watching Slumdog Millionaire and reading Q & A, the book it was made from, I’ve been intrigued somewhat with India. The book I’m reviewing here is The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga narrated by John Lee. This was an audiobook from Audible.com. The protagonist of this novel has several different names and he talks about how he gets these names, but I will refer to him as the one that is most frequently used in the book, Balram. The book is structured as a series of letters from Balram to the prime minister of China. Balram has heard that the prime minister is going to make a trip to India and is interested in entrepreneurs. Balram says there is no better entrepreneur than himself and goes on to tell his story.

He is the poor son of a rickshaw puller in the tiny town of Laxmangarh. The beginning of the book details how he was good at school until about the fourth grade and was even referred to by an inspector of the school as a white tiger, that rare animal that comes out of the forest once in a generation. The description of the school was kind of unbelievable where the teacher sleeps all day because the school can’t afford to pay him anything and the kids are basically on their own. One day he sees a lizard on the wall of the classroom and is deathly afraid. He goes home and his father goes to school and kills the lizard for him, but Balram has always been afraid of lizards. Anyway, Balram is pulled out of school and is sent to the local tea shop to break coal with a hammer.

One theme that runs through the course of the story is politics. Laxmangarh is run by landlords in a type of feudal system. When “The Great Socialist” comes into power through the Indian form of “democratic” elections, the landlords are not happy. The Great Socialist claims to be on the side of the poor, but the reason I have democratic in quotes is if one of the poor decides to show up at the voting booth, he is beaten to a pulp. The Great Socialist is basically taking the money from the rich landlords in the form of taxes and kickbacks while giving lip service to the poor. These taxes play a bigger role later in the story.

When Balram gets older he learns to be a driver. He approaches the landlord’s house and requests employment as a driver. He is turned away, but is persistent enough to get the job as driver #2. Driver #2 drives the other members of the family not the landlord himself. He also must cook and clean and basically be one of the servants for the family. He soon gets the driver #1 position, however by exposing the man who had it before as a Muslim, which is heavily frowned upon. Balram soon becomes the driver for the landlord’s son Asok and his wife Pinky Madam (a white American) and they go to Delhi or as Balram puts it the “darkness” of the country to the “light” of civilization. I will stop the description here because I think it is the most interesting part of the book and I don’t want to spoil it.

Like Q & A, The White Tiger illustrates the class differences between the rich and the poor in India. Balram makes a really interesting analogy that being poor is like being in a rooster coop. There is no escape and even if the door is wide open, the rooster won’t escape because the other roosters won’t let him. The poor keep each other poor and if for some reason the poor did escape, the rich would make his family suffer or even die. The book makes some really harsh and heavily cynical assertions about life in India. I don’t know how true it is, but the book makes you believe that it could definitely be the reality. It was really an eye opening book.

This is a book that might be considered “historical fiction”, but, not in the way you might expect. The famous characters that you recognize are who you think they are, but, what they say and do is not something you would find in an actual biography of the famous characters, or anything you would be taught in a history class. Consider this book to be a work of historical fiction in a parallel universe that is strikingly similar to ours, yet, with it’s own subtle differences.

It’s 1962 at the start of this book, and David Dengler appears to be stalking the beautiful and famous Marilyn Monroe. Dengler is no ordinary stalker, however, because following around Marilyn Monroe is his assignment. He is gathering intelligence for the U.S. Army.

I became instantly curious about Dengler, and his mysterious assignment. Was he going to kill Marilyn Monroe, or seduce her, or both? Is Dengler the hero, or the villain? Why, exactly, does the U.S. Army want to know about what time Marilyn Monroe wakes up in the morning, and how often she waters her lawn? There has to be something more than meets the eye, I thought. And oh, was there! More than I ever expected when I first picked up this book.

Taylor is a master at blind siding his readers with pivotal information that changes the entire story. You don’t see it coming. After it hits you it becomes very apparent just where that came from, and how it fits into the puzzle. The twists of plot in this book are extreme, and perfect, and intense. I literally spent two days doing not much more than reading Red Mist, dying to know what happens next and how it all turns out!

Most readers are going to come into this book with an expectation that Marilyn Monroe dies, somehow, and that JFK and/ or RFK have something to do with it, and then the story ends. Don’t be fooled by this belief! This is a parallel universe, remember? Things happen in this story that are realistic and unexpected at the same time. Forget what you think you know about what may have happened with these people in our reality, because whatever it is, in terms of this book, you aren’t even close to having this puzzle solved. You don’t even have all the pieces, and the cover of the box with the picture on it has long since disappeared.

Red Mist is a book with a whole lot to offer. Readers who enjoy intense thrillers that include political intrigue, governmental secrets, and double agents will be excited by this book. There are several mysteries to solve within these pages, but the clues will keep you guessing right up until the very end. Taylor has created a vivid world to visit. I could hear the accents in the characters voices, see the scenes through their eyes, feel their adrenaline. Readers are given intimate details about what each character experienced before these events took place, which makes for some of the most detailed and realistic characters I’ve encountered.

Put this all together, and you have more than a great story, you have a journey for reader to travel. This makes the love scenes more emotional, the sex scenes even spicier, and the sad parts more tear-jerking. Few books make me want to cry, but this one very nearly achieved it in parts. The realistic qualities of Taylor’s writing also made the violent parts (and there are plenty), so disturbing that there were times I felt nauseous. If you are a reader who has difficulty reading scenes that include torture, tread carefully here. Personally, my favorite genre is horror, and I tend to enjoy a certain amount of violence in a book. One great thing about reading is that, for most books, you can select just how graphic a picture you want in your head as you read. Red Mist however, makes that impossible. You are not just watching a movie of these scenes, you are standing in the room as it takes place, you are the character it is happening to. I highly recommend this book!

Jude Foster, an L.A. homicide detective, has demons to deal with. His former partner, Morgan Cross, nearly killed him last year. His younger brother, Kevin, is on the brink of collapse, and Jude is taking that personally. Jude has just been assigned a new partner, Rachel, whom he wants nothing whatsoever to do with, despite their growing attraction to each other. Also, he may be losing his mind, but he’s not quite sure about that.

As if this weren’t enough, there are the bodies. A killer is out there. One who is somehow able to steal his victim’s souls without so much as touching them. Some bodies have been marked with a symbol, and the detectives keep finding scraps of paper with cryptic messages on them. Jude is compelled to find out who is behind these murders, and he has a strong suspicion that he knows who the killer is. On his quest to discover the answers, he ends up uncovering more questions. Can he piece it all together and put an end to it before another victim is claimed? Will Jude make the tough decisions, or take the easier way out?

The Sacred Sin is one part mystery, one part thriller, and is filled with some deep spiritual concepts as well. It’s a quick read, but not a light read at all. Parts of the book scared the hell out of me! Vega does a wonderful job of keeping the reader on the edge of their seat, wondering what will ultimately happen to the vivid characters he has created.

Estevan Vega was kind enough to do an interview with me for Book Sandwich.

Jen Thorpe: When I started reading The Sacred Sin I thought I knew exactly who the “good guy” and the “bad guy” were. However, as I continued reading, I started to question my initial decisions. Is there a “good guy” and a “bad guy” in this book? Is anything “black and white”, or is this book filled with shades of gray?

Estevan Vega: That’s an interesting question. It’s something I struggle with, the way my characters in The Sacred Sin do. There are good and bad things in this world. To me, it seems like humanity is somewhere in between. We were created good, but yet our nature seems twisted, sadistic, and evil sometimes. The things we are capable of, the things we say, think. I do believe there is darkness within us all; but I also believe there is light. We have to choose which one we’ll side with, as Jude Foster and Morgan Cross have to choose. And at the same time, we must realize that as much as we would like there to be a crystal clear way of determining which way to turn, which way to be, we must understand this world is gray, a dichotomy of the good and evil aspects of nature.

Jen Thorpe: This book is filled with imagery from Christianity, from the description of the churches, to the details about the statues inside them. Crosses appear in important places. There is even a character who is a priest, and a hospital called St. Mary’s. Were you raised Catholic, or did you do a lot of research in order to make these parts of the book so authentic?

Estevan Vega: I was raised in a Christian home, attended private school practically my whole life. I went to Xavier High School in CT, a Catholic school. So, my faith definitely interests me. The good things about it, the confusing things, the bad parts. Since this book was so internal and spiritual, I knew what kind of atmosphere I wanted. It was dark, but not utterly hopeless; that’s where the priest comes in, that’s where the hospital comes in. But at the same time, I felt it was important for there not to be a clear and cookie-cutter “Christian/ Catholic/whatever” answer for the characters or storyline, because life is rarely that clear. These are real people with real messed-up lives in a messed-up situation. It was fun mixing dark elements with the light.

JT: I’m always impressed when authors are able to write from the viewpoint of a character they have created who is the opposite gender from the author. You made the part where your character, Rachel, talks about what a previous boyfriend did to her very real. How did you make that so vivid and believable? Did you do research here, or did you talk to women who had similar bad experiences?

EV: I wish I could say I researched the crap out of it, but that would be an elaborate piece of fiction, and not the good kind. A lot of people say you have to have experienced something in order to write about it or relate; I disagree somewhat. The imagination is a powerful tool for a writer. I have never been a cop, never been hunted by demons or been a woman. But I have met these types of people, talked with them, tried to picture how I met handle a situation if I were them. Also, things I’ve read in the past and movies/shows I watch have also helped me to capture snippets of humanity along the way. Everything contributes to a writer’s life, not just the writer’s life itself.

JT: Some of the clues at the murder scenes in the book are small snippets of writing, with one letter… I’m going to say “highlighted”, so as not to give anything away. Do these letters actually spell out something, or were they just a lot of “red herrings”? Were these small pieces of writing quotes from somewhere?

EV: Oh, definitely. I was hoping you caught that. Some have caught onto it, others not so much, so don’t feel bad. If I could go back, I would have made that part of the book a bit clearer. Those letters, when placed in the right order, do spell something. Jude Foster, I believe, says what it spells. It’s near the end of the book, last chapter or something. But yeah, it’s significant to Jude’s character.

JT: I found your book to be extremely scary in parts, but, the scenes with Azrael were especially terrifying. I think I have heard that name before, but couldn’t quite place it. What can you tell my readers about Azrael?

EV: You know, they say there’s nothing new under the sun. When I was writing The Sacred Sin, I had never heard that name before. It was something I created during one of my many editing phases. So, to me it was completely original. It wasn’t until the book released that I stumbled upon a CD titled Azrael, or maybe it was a band. I was kinda pissed.

But on to the character. Azrael is a character in The Sacred Sin, a very prominent character. He’s not just one, he’s more like a part of a few of the characters in the book. In essence, he’s a bit of all of us. Like a symbiote. I just gave him a name. When he shows up, the characters’ eyes start bleeding red.

JT: It’s my understanding that you started writing at a very young age. What inspired you to become a writer? How old were you when you finished The Sacred Sin ? Is this your first book?

EV: I did. At the young age of eleven, I began writing. I had always hoped I’d get to this point, but doubted if it’d ever come true. It started with these writing assignments in the fifth grade. My dad would help me with them. “Close your eyes,” he’d say. “Picture this.” Then he’d go on to tell me about a character or a scene. He painted my imagination, gave color to my gray world. I have a lot to thank him for. He loves to write, but always says he never has the time. I think to him he gets to vicariously live through me. But anyway, it was after my class bound our story collections/essays at the end of the year, that my dad shared with me an idea for a book. He asked me what could scare a person so much that it literally killed them? This became the catylyst for my first book Servant of the Realm, a story about a kid who stumbles upon a formula which allows him to have visions of the future. Only catch is these visions are of all the people he loves dying. In a race against time, he tries to alter the events he sees.

I began writing The Sacred Sin a few months before Servant of the Realm was published. Had a first draft completed that summer. But it would take another three years before it would be released to the world. I was 18 when The Sacred Sin came out.

JT: In your experience, do you feel that the publishers you have dealt with treated you differently from how they treat authors who are older than you are, or was it the same? How so?

EV: Not sure how they’ve treated their other authors. But I do know this, I keep switching publishers with every book. I know the publisher of The Sacred Sin required me to be 18 before they even looked at my stuff. Nevertheless, I haven’t found the right publisher to stick with just yet. Working with a new publisher now that seems to be a good fit for my third book.

JT: Did you listen to any particular music while you were writing The Sacred Sin, or do you write in silence? I like to get an idea of what might have been in an author’s head as he was writing.

EV: Usually, I don’t like to listen to music while I’m physically writing, because I feel like it breaks significant concentration. Perhaps it’s a skill I will someday perfect. But I do love music, and try to go to concerts on a regular basis. I am definitely influenced by the lyrics of bands. I like all kinds of music, mainly rock. Whether soft or heavy. Some favorites are: Switchfoot, Mat Kearney, Underoath, Anberlin–this band actually kind of inspired book three through one of their songs.

JT: Where on the internet can my readers find you?

EV: www.estevanvega.com, amazon.com, bn.com, anywhere else books are sold. Also, on your lovely site. I’ve been privileged enough to have done quite a few of these interviews, so a google search might turn up some results.

JT: What do you have planned next? Can you tell my readers a little about your next book? Do you have college plans? Where might your next book tour, or podcast appearance be?

EV: I would love to tell them about my third and what I think is my best book. ARSON is a coming of age story about a seventeen year old kid struggling with guilt from a past accident. He’s anything but normal, and he hates it. Arson has a gift, well sort of. He can create and manipulate fire. His world’s a mess, but it makes sense, until a new neighbor moves in, a new neighbor who wears a mask.

At the moment, I’m studying English at Gordon College. Typical, I know, but I’m trying to stand out. I’m a sophomore, but try to come across as something other than sophomoric.

Next, you can find me online at Examiner.com. John Valeri is a great freelancer who recently did an interview with me about my writing. He’s a book examiner for Hartford, CT. Be sure to check it out. Thank you so much for having me on your site. Anyone who hasn’t checked out The Sacred Sin, please do so. It’s fun, and is sure to keep you on edge.

And keep your eyes peeled for ARSON, which I plan to have out later this year.

JT: Thank you, so much, for doing this interview with me for Book Sandwich!

EV: Thanks again for sharing with me this opportunity. It was a pleasure to answer these questions for Book Sandwich.