The Devil's Mambo - Softcover

Rodriguez, Jerry A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0758217102 ISBN 13: 9780758217103

Publisher: Kensington Trade Paper, 2007

Synopsis

Have you ever wondered, Mister Esperanza, about the nature of evil . . . Nicholas Esperanza couldn't believe his luck. A winning $30 million lotto ticket took him out of NYPD Homicide and bought him Sueno Latino, a popular salsa club on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Dancing, drinking, partying, women-every day was a good day. The nights with his girlfriend, Legs, are even hotter. But now, Legs needs Esperanza to do her a solid: find her missing 14-year-old niece, Alina. With that, Esperanza's luck is about to change. Before he knows it, Esperanza's plunged into a dangerous sexual underground of S&M clubs, fetishists, pornography, and murder. Anything can be bought and sold, especially innocence. The most beautiful faces mask the most vicious predators. As the quest gets more personal, and the lines between good and evil blur, Esperanza spirals into the darkest recesses of his soul, to places he never wanted to see. He's in so deep that turning back is not an option. With The Devil's Mambo, Jerry A. Rodriguez delivers a gritty, wholly original urban noir-an adrenaline-charged, erotic thriller that's as twisted as it is addictive. "Follow Nick Esperanza on his descent into the artfully portrayed dark and . . . seamy underbelly of the big, bad city" -Gary Phillips, Bangers "A wild ride on the wild side. Rodriguez pulls no punches" -Rick Mofina, The Dying Hour "The Devil's Mambo is dark, bad and gave me a case of the serious creeps. Heavy, tough stuff but also unputdownable. Rodriguez is working mean streets that haven't been worked before. He's the real thing. Dig this book" -Robert Ward, author of "Four Kinds of Rain" Jerry A. Rodriguez is a writer-director who has staged dozens of plays Off Broadway and has conducted film-making workshops for such places as the Film Society of Lincoln Center. He wrote and directed the critically acclaimed short film, El Deseo, which was heralded by the Village Voice as "a Syd

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Reviews

Ex-homicide detective and Navy SEAL Nick Esperanza dives deep into New York's sexual underworld in this graphic, gritty first novel. Esperanza has everything: he's a $30 million Lotto winner, retired at 40, madly in love with his gorgeous girlfriend, Legs, and singing the occasional song in his thriving salsa club. When Legs's niece disappears, he reluctantly agrees to take a break from the good life to scout around. Playwright and filmmaker Rodriguez gives his Puerto Rican Spenser a standard supporting cast-an FBI agent brother, a fellow former SEAL running club security-and starts out mostly painting by the numbers. Then the trail leads to kiddie porn ring the Candyland Club and its sadomasochistic enforcers, and Esperanza's taste for kinky sex meets its match in the vicious Mistress Devona Love, who reduces the once cocksure investigator to a quivering heap in the book's best and raunchiest scene. The squeamish may wince as Esperanza does his desperate and dark dance down the wild side.
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When NYPD homicide cop Nicholas Esperanza wins 30 million bucks in the lottery, he does what any right-thinking fella would do: chucks his job, buys a nightclub, and spends his days relaxing, and his nights . . . well, let's just say the man likes his fun. But when his girlfriend, Legs (really), asks him to find her missing niece, our hero soon finds that you can take the man out of the cop shop, but you can't take the cop out of the man. A very uneven mix of private-eye yarn and erotic thriller, the novel will please some readers while it turns off others. The language in the novel is frank and may strike some readers as over the top, but the story is well plotted and the characters, especially Esperanza, are well drawn. This may lack the depth one associates with top-level hard-boiled fiction, but it packs the punch and entertaining edge of the pulps. Just be sure to keep it away from cozy fans. David Pitt
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Edition details

• Publisher: Kensington Trade Paper
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0758217102
• ISBN 13: 9780758217103
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 292