New Book Alert: Under The Volcano (Quito Murder Mysteries) by William Graham; Suspenseful Trip Into The Violent Bloody Ecuadorian Underworld

 

New Book Alert: Under The Volcano (Quito Murder Mysteries) by William Graham; Suspenseful Trip Into The Violent Bloody Ecuadorian Underworld

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: One of the most interesting aspects about murder mysteries is how they sometimes act as round the world tours. Sometimes the setting is so intrinsic to the plot that the mystery can't be set anywhere else. Either the suspenseful and deadly circumstances stand to counter the beautiful scenic view that surrounds the character or that the suspense and death surrounds the otherwise beautiful unique view so often that it's a part of daily life.

Under the Volcano: Quito Murder Mysteries by William Graham reveals that the Ecuadorian setting of the book is the latter.

Graham describes the setting of Ecuador so well that it almost becomes a character in the book. This is a country which according to OSAC's website, its capital city Quito's crime rate level is listed as a critical threat. The book shows poor citizens longing for better lives, a rampant drug trade thanks to close proximity to Colombia, American tourists who visit the country for fun or to hide their most nefarious deeds, and plenty of jungles and forests to leave a body or two. This is a world where even the cops can act as criminals.

Graham explores the complex dark lives of Quito's citizens and visitors in six stories that are interconnected by the presence of Detective Alberto Alvarado. He is the typical police detective heading a murder mystery who protects the innocent and can stand against any gun wielding killer to find out the truth. However, he has an extremely shady side that even the most hard boiled detective in the darkest noir story would find his actions questionable. Alberto has a gambling addiction which puts him at odds with his wife, Dolores and involves himself with shady characters that he should be arresting. 

He also commits violence in various chapters and not always in self defense or protection towards others.

Similar to Robert New's Colours of Death, Graham tells six different novellas that are all linked by Alberto's presence in solving them. They take different aspects of exploring the victims and perpetrators of crime in this dark and gritty Ecuadorian setting.

The stories are:

*Deadly Crude"- This story really develops many of the problems of the rural communities and why their residents have no love lost for Quito. We see the San Carlos village ravaged by pollution where it's a health hazard to drink from or swim in the water. ("Make him drink bottled water only," a doctor tells an anguished mother about her child who has been sickened by the water.) Many of the young people leave for better opportunities and never return. Some however want to return to fight for the people left behind like lawyer Juan Criollo who was murdered. When Quito radio personality Teresa Eagle makes note of his disappearance during a broadcast, Alberto is put on the case even though he doesn't personally care for lawyers. ("But even lawyers have mothers," he reasons.) 

The plot is seeped in muck and not just because Juan was investigating the corrupt oil industry that polluted his home village. (Though that is a truly horrifying development to reveal what San Carlos is reduced to and will no doubt get worse now that their champion has been killed.) But also the lengths these industries go through to keep the environmental damage a secret. There are some very violent means that some will go through to protect their profits and bottom line over human life.

"The Diplomat"- This is one of those types of suspense stories that tell part of the narrative from the murderer's point of view as well as the investigator so we not only follow the investigation but the journey of the unfortunate soul to cover up the crime. 

In this case, wealthy American Lucas Grant accidentally hits a woman with his car. Rather than calling a hospital or informing some authority figure, this true "prince among men" is angry at her for being so foolish to put him in this predicament. After an argument with his mistress (part of the reason that he's not willing to come forward), Lucas dumps the woman's body onto the side road of an airport. What a guy!

The impact of the case in "Deadly Crude" left Alberto so stressed that he lost his hair. He isn't ready to tackle another dangerous case but the realization that Maria, the dead woman is close to the same age as his daughter. Feeling a paternal tug at his heart, Alberto takes the case.

This is a case where not only the murderer but the rest of the cast are downright horrible as well. Besides Lucas being a cowardly sleaze of the highest order, his wife, Victoria is a shrieking drug addict. His mistress, Geovanna, is decent enough to want to report the accident to the police but she is pretty self-serving and materialistic. A photographer, Carlos and his partner, Luz, take pictures of the crime and decide to blackmail Lucas with the evidence. There isn't a likeable member in the whole bunch which carries on the dark aspects of detective noir where characters are purposely unlikeable but interesting to follow.

"Family Secret"- One of the common themes in these stories is the appearance of Americans either as tourists or expatriates. They come to Ecuador for a vacation, but often they arrive to get away from a lawless past, to exploit the country's riches, or to obtain answers to troubling questions. American reporter, Patricia Dobson is one of those who arrives to get answers. On her mother's deathbed, she learns that the man that she believed was her father really wasn't. Her birth father was Ecuadorian novelist and activist, Jorge Cossio. Patricia goes to Ecuador to meet her father and unfortunately never returns.

This story is somewhat reminiscent of an Agatha Christie locked room mystery where there is a claustrophobic setting and a limited number of suspects. It doesn't help that with the exception of Jorge no one particularly wants her there.

Because of the limited amount of suspects, the murderer is pretty easy to guess. However, what is brilliantly handled is the amount of hatred that this family has over this presumed outsider and what she represents to their roles in the dynamic.

"Gold Rush"- This is not one of the better stories except for one interesting subplot. The main plot is that Arturo Silva is killed after he gets into a partnership with a pair of Americans who find gold. In true Treasure of the Sierra Madre fashion, greed sets in and bodies are discovered. This case isn't particularly great nor is the resolution. What is most interesting is what is going on with Alberto between investigations.

In an unrelated plot, Alberto commits cold blooded first degree murder. Yes the lead detective commits murder and not in self defense or to protect someone. This is one of the few times that I am aware that the lead detective kills someone and the murder is not affected by the main plot. Even more baffling is that he is never called out on it nor is this particular murder ever investigated. It makes you look at Alberto differently in the rest of the book.

It is a strange twist to see a detective callously murder someone without reprecussions, but it gives the Reader a sense of the kind of world that they are reading about. A world where the line between those on the side of the law and against is thin to the point of practically non-existent. A world where there are good reasons why the crime level is described as critically high when anyone could quickly change from friend to enemy. It's dark but at the same time unfortunately very real too that there are officers who sincerely believe that they are above the law.

"Confession"-In a dark setting like the way Graham writes Quito, it is expected that even the local church is corrupted. Two priests are murdered, one shortly after confession. Apparently, they are being punished for sins that were undiscovered and unpunished for a long time.

This story really develops the long term repercussions of unpunished crimes and how they fester over time. Eventually, the guilty are found out usually by someone who has had to suffer the trauma of not only being hurt but by having to watch day in and day out this person walking free and clear because they are protected by a system that favors them over their victims.(Makes you wonder if there will be future repercussions for Alberto's murder in going with that theme.)

"Cloud Forest Murder"- Remember how I said that there are a lot of forests and jungles which are perfect to leave a body? Well that is at play here. Rachel, one of a group of American tourists, is found lying with her head crushed by a rock in the Ecuadorian Cloud Forest outside the Linda Vista lodge where she and her husband and friends are staying. What an unbelievable coincidence Alberto and his wife, Dolores are vacationing there as well. Since Death never takes a holiday, neither does a criminal investigator.

Similar to "Family Secrets," the suspects are a small limited group. This keeps the relationships intimate and the emotions present. There is a love triangle that develops between some of the characters and it is shown in a way that comes naturally since two of the characters have known each other for years making the other member more of the intrusion. 

While the murderer is certainly questionable, it's clear that their actions come from loneliness and overwhelming anguish making the Reader understand their actions even when they don't condone them.

Under the Volcano is a brilliant anthology that explores all that is hot and dangerous in Quito leading to actions that are ready to explode.

Weekly Reader: The Helpers: An International Tale of Espionage and Corruption by S.E. Nelson; Suspenseful, Almost Dizzying Novel of Corruption, Conspiracy, and Murder in Congo

Weekly Reader: The Helpers: An International Tale of Espionage and Corruption by S.E. Nelson; Suspenseful, Almost Dizzying Novel of Corruption, Conspiracy, and Murder in Congo

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

PopSugar Reading Challenge: A book by or about a journalist


Spoilers: With a name like The Helpers, S.E. Nelson's gang of antagonists in this thriller novel of the same name, understand the meaning of irony. These so-called Helpers are anything but. They would not help someone cross the street, so much as push them into oncoming traffic, especially if that person were on the opposite side of their specific agendas.




The Helpers are the real powers behind the political and business world in the African nation of Congo. Not a move gets made without their say so. They organize wars and revolutions for fun and profit. People who speak out against them usually end up missing or dead with valuable parts of their anatomy gone. They also appear to have long arms that extend beyond their hold in Congo.


This is the group that many are investigating in this tense novel that is almost dizzying with action, suspense, and one betrayal after another. There are many who are investigating this fearsome group.

French intelligence operatives, Lance Lemmand and Pierre-Jean Philippe. The two suspect that the current rebel outbreaks in Congo to be orchestrated from the inside by this powerful group.

The other people who are interested in the Helpers are Jenny Osborne and John Spencer, freelance journalist and photojournalist respectively. The duo are on assignment to investigate the conflicts in Congo, but end up getting caught in the middle of the Helpers's conspiracy when one of their sources leads the journalists right to them.


This book can be confusing to the point that the different twists, climaxes, and reveals are so prevelant so sometimes it's hard to tell who is on whose side. After awhile, you become completely used to the betrayal. used. It's hard to care about a character when you are waiting for the other shoe to drop and that person gets revealed as a traitor or at the very least a double agent.


However, there are some great moments that reveal Nelson's talent for capturing the Reader's attention. One passage that reveals this is when Lance goes through some clever subterfuge to hide from an enemy. This includes changing trains, traveling through different countries, and obtaining information from quirky Hitchcockian characters who may or may not be trustworthy.


The characters are interesting, but typical for this type of work. There is the grizzled veteran, the bright young protogee working with the wily vet, the intrepid dedicated journalists, the terrorist motivated by fervent hatred and blinded fanaticism, the corrupt business person who is only loyal to the almighty dollar, the sultry agent playing various sides. They are all there and doing their thing.


By far the strongest character is Kai, a young woman forced into prostitution as a child. She is a witness to the Helpers's cruelty and is protected by Jenny and John. She becomes a symbol of the suffering that the Helpers force on their people. Kai is determined to get out of Congo and make a new life for herself and her mother and willingly puts herself in danger.


Another great twist is what happens or rather doesn't happen to The Helpers. Many books end with the conspiracy dying or at least suffering a gaping wound. Not this one. Making the Helpers as big as they are, makes it hard to swallow that they could be brought down by a single action or a few individuals. At most their organization suffers a few pin pricks and the ending is full aware that there will always be powerful groups waiting in the wings and a charismatic leader ready to grab the reins of power


The Helpers is flawed, but it captures the Readers with a suspension and tension from the first page to the last.

New Book Alert: Corruption Behind Bars: Stories of Crime and Corruption in Our American Prison System by Gary York; Gripping Eye-Opening Accounts of Criminal Activity In American Prisons

New Book Alert: Corruption Behind Bars: Stories of Crime and Corruption in Our American Prison System by Gary York; Gripping Eye-Opening Accounts of Criminal Activity In American Prisons




By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




Spoilers: Gary York knows a lot about corruption in the prison system. As a Senior Prison Inspector, he spent twelve years conducting criminal, civil, and administrative investigations in many state prisons.

He wrote books on the subject and his book, Corruption Behind Bars: Stories of Crime and Corruption in Our American Prison System is a gripping account of many of the situations inside these prisons. What he found were buildings full of lawbreakers, both inmates and employees. York's book is filled with 42 chapters of such stories.

York begins his book by discussing how a prison becomes a den of more illegal activity than the outside.
“Imagine taking a group of dishonest individuals and putting them all in the same location. Now add, a few corrupt staff members…..This mixture can cause numerous illegal activities. Just one corrupt staff member...can cause a chain of events that lead to months of investigative work in order to infiltrate and dissolve the illegal activity. Corruption causes citizens to feel officers are not trustworthy and leaves them wondering who the officers are working for, the citizen or the inmate.”


In the first chapter, York chillingly explains the recruitment process that he calls “The Inmate Recruitment Game.” Once they enter the Graybar Hotel, inmates are denied certain privileges, such as drugs, sex, even simple things like a home cooked meal. They get by these restrictions by either making sure their friends get hired in the prison or, failing that, find a way to blackmail or entice a staff member. They may find information on the staff member, such as an extramarital affair or financial dirty dealing, from friends on the outside.

York's profile of these inmates show them as master manipulators. They befriend the staff member and learn secrets on them, then trick them into giving them a simple contraband item like a single cigarette or a can of beer. Then, they will ask for bigger items. If the staff member refuses, the inmate then threatens to reveal the secret they learned as well as the earlier contraband. Suddenly, the inmate has a new friend, that gives them whatever they want including illegal contraband and , lo and behold, the corrupt inmates and employees rule the Big House.

One chapter in York's book illustrates this concept clearly. Helen, a classification officer, supervised inmate orderlies in a move from her old office to a new one.
A handsome inmate began smiling at her. She smiled back in a more flirtatious manner. The inmate then began writing her poems and painting floral pictures as gifts.

Helen was flattered by the attention and already was in trouble for not reporting the gifts. She and the inmate sneaked into the old classification office and had sex. The captain entered the office to find Helen and the inmate in flagrante delicto. The inmate was locked up in disciplinary confinement and Helen was removed from her job. However, when the inmate was transferred to another prison, Helen was added to his visitor's list.
This chapter reveals how the inmates use the staff members’ insecurities and loneliness against them. By manipulating Helen’s need for romance and telling her the right things to make her think she loved him, the inmate’s sexual needs were met.

If not sex, sometimes the inmates wanted other urges to be satisfied like their drug and alcohol addictions.
A drug treatment center was under investigation from York for this very reason. York searched the financial records and discovered that there were frequent requests for new window screens. York learned that male offenders often broke through the screens, either to be with female offenders or to pick up drugs that friends and family members dropped off in the woods outside the treatment center.
The male offenders picked up the drugs and entered the female's section through the window. The offenders engaged in sex, drinking, smoking marijuana, and taking other drugs. “They were angels by day and vampires by night,” York observed. The entire program was shut down and the officers and other staff members were relocated.

Women's prisons can also be hotbeds for contraband. Many of the items demanded are things to enhance an inmate's femininity, such as make up, perfume, and jewelry, particularly tongue rings. In a women's prison, York discovered that two female officers made extra money on the side by bringing the inmates tongue rings and name brand makeup. The makeup was provided to replace the generic makeup approved by the prison and hated by the inmates. The tongue rings were a fashion statement because they were stylish and cool and also because the inmates used the tongue rings on each other for oral sexual pleasure and arousal. After York confiscated the tongue rings and makeup, he learned the names of the officers from the inmates. The officers resigned and surrendered their correctional officer certifications for life.

Sometimes the officers are just as corrupt as the employees as York shows in his chapter involving Florida's former Department of Corrections Secretary James Crosby. Crosby hosted wild parties with bigwigs, booze, and girls. He and other officials accepted kickbacks from private vendors and state funds. Other officials imported and sold steroids to give to the prison softball team. Crosby also protected officers who abused and intimidated inmates and staff.
Many of Crosby's cohorts were exposed and investigated. Some came clean particularly about the steroid use and the parties. Eventually in 2006, Florida governor, Jeb Bush ordered Crosby to resign. He agreed to plead guilty for accepting kickbacks and was sentenced to eight years in a federal prison.
The chapter on Crosby shows what happens when a prison official is as corrupt and scheming as the inmates. When that happens, the whole system can fall apart when citizens can't trust that law officers will protect them.

Sometimes the favors that staff members grant inmates seem innocuous but are symbols of power one has over them. This is particularly true for Warden David Farcas of the Charlottesville Correctional Institution. Farcas recruited captains, officers, and supervisors into what was called “The Family” a small group of prison officials who did favors for each other like covering up abuse. While inmates spoke up against the mistreatment, authorities did not take their claims seriously. Officers were supposed to testify as well, but the officers were too afraid of “The Family” to protest.
Farcas also granted favors to prisoners that he liked such as letting some use his cell phone to make long distance calls. In his previous position, Farcas gave an inmate and his father a steak dinner. He later had the same inmate transferred to Charlottesville.
One of the more bizarre favors that Farcas granted the inmates was to invite a skydiving team land on the prison compound during their annual Christian program. It is forbidden to allow airplanes to enter a prison without receiving approval from the State Capitol, conducting background checks on those who use the plane, and searching the plane for contraband or potential escapees. Farcas sidestepped these regulations and granted the skydiving team permission for no motive but to show off his power and prove that he could grant such a huge favor.
The Inspector General's office received various complaints on Farcas’ behavior from inmates and officers who were willing to talk about the Family's doings. Farcas was removed from his position, but temporarily received a new wardenship at Cross City Correctional Institution during the rise of Secretary James Crosby (see above). When Crosby resigned, Farcas was one of several prison employees terminated by Governor Jeb Bush’s actions to end illegal activity in Florida's prisons.

Juvenile correctional facilities also have their share of illegal activity going on inside those walls. In Hillsborough Correctional Institution, The young offenders got into fights, arming themselves with broom handles and padlocks as makeshift weapons. Warden Roderick James declared “If you want to act like animals, then you will be treated as animals.” Officers then handcuffed the young men to a chain link fence then laughed as a thunderstorm poured down on the boys.
James ordered the officers to use pepper spray on any dissenters. The inmates spent the night on the gymnasium floor handcuffed on the basketball court floor and sleeping on thin mattresses. The young men spent 33 hours handcuffed, before being released.
The inmates and officers, lieutenants, a major, the assistant warden, and the prison chaplain all testified that James ordered the punishment. James denied being involved in punishing the boys, but his attendance on the court log told a different story. James was demoted, suspended for a few days, and transferred to Avon Park Correctional Institution where he was eventually promoted to warden once again.
This chapter highlights a heart-breaking reality in America's prisons that sometimes when officers are caught breaking the laws that they swore to protect, unfortunately they receive very little punishment.

York's book is an eye opening look inside prisons where instead of rehabilitating and receiving second chances, the people on both sides of the law are often guilty of doing more of the same.