3 out of 4 stars
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Camilo Estorbar has a business to run but is having some trouble. His messenger, Louis, delivered a package of drugs worth $200,000 to the wrong person. Camilo punishes Louis severely landing Louis in the hospital much to the chagrin of Estorbar. Detective Gordon Stevenson is asked to check up on Louis as he states his injuries are from falling down the stairs. Clearly that is not the case, but since Louis is 18, Detective Stevenson cannot get child services involved. Instead, he asks Joceyln Cardel, a staff member at the hospital where Louis is, to keep an eye on him.
Meanwhile, Estorbar continues to have problems. One of the girls in his prostitution ring is gravely ill. She cannot be taken to the hospital for fear of the police getting involved. Despite this, Madam Rose drops her off at the hospital. Camilo fires Rose for going against his orders. Now, he must not only find more girls but a new Madam as well. Detective Gordon is determined to solve the death of the poor girl. He thinks that Louis is somehow involved, but he can’t get Louis to talk.
Fleeting Visions by Rene Natan is a thriller of just under 200 pages. It takes place in the town of London, Ontario in Canada. Ms. Natan wrote this book after a trip to Mexico with her husband. Their travel agent at the time voiced concerns that many of the local girls were getting caught up in human trafficking and ending up in prostitution. Ms. Natan knew then that this would be the subject of her next book as the prostitution of minors is a grave problem in our society.
This book is fast-paced with plenty of action to keep one interested. I got involved in the story right from the beginning and continued to wonder what would happen next. The story alternates between several different points of view but is easy to follow along with. I enjoyed getting a glimpse into the mind of the antagonist as well as the protagonists.
The characters, while acceptable, were not extremely well-developed. I don’t think Ms. Natan showed enough of the inner struggle of these characters. For example Louis, from the beginning, does not want to tell the police anything. He is afraid that Camilo will find him and punish him. In the middle of the story, however, he changes his mind. It seemed a sudden change, and I didn’t really understand the motivation behind the decision.
I also have a problem with an aspect in the character of Jocelyn Cardel. She has an issue with relationships, which I understand. However, the author seems to indicate that she has a perfectly normal sex drive. Jocelyn, though, for some reason thinks that she is abnormal and does everything she can to suppress this drive. Ms. Natan doesn’t expound on why this is so that I could relate to the situation at all. To me, it just seemed odd and out of place in the story. Then, Jocelyn seems to get over this pretty quickly in the end.
While the subject matter is intense, the author handles the topic with extreme delicacy. Nothing graphic is included in the story which does not need to be there. I appreciate that as there are some, including me, who don’t want every gory detail.
One last thing to point out is the title. I’m not extremely sure where it comes from in the story. I think it comes from one of the secondary characters in the story who is somewhat of a psychic. However, if I am correct, this is a minor part of the story. I don’t think the incident is enough to name the whole story after, especially if the author wants to convey the nature of the story by the title alone.
Overall, I rate Fleeting Visions 3 out of 4 stars. I enjoyed the story and the pace, but I believe the characters really could have been developed a little more. All in all, I would recommend this to those that want a good, quick read and enjoy novels in this genre.
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Fleeting Visions
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