2 out of 4 stars
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In Mexico, Inspector Marco Nayal and Detective Chuy Hernadez were leading a homicide investigation. A wealthy man was strangled, and his body was callously dumped in a mangrove swamp. Following the evidence, the two investigators soon realized this was not an ordinary robbery case as the victim was the brains behind a high-tech flying drone used in some agricultural processes. Was the product just a harmless appliance, or was it involved in something much more insidious? Nayal and Hernadez had to run against time, bureaucracies, and their own well-being to solve the murder and stop a hair-raising scheme before it was too late.
When I was reading White Jaguar, I got the strange feeling that I was actually reading the script for a computer game, not a well-written fictional book. Have you ever read a novel mostly comprised of continuous streams of dialogues with little characterization, little tension, and few emotions? In other words, have you ever read a novel which was not a legitimate story but a huge information chunk? This was, sadly, the perfect description for this novel.
The first and foremost weakness of the book was that there was no sense of excitement. Fans of crime genre are drawn to excitement, whether in the form of suspense or action. White Jaguar was, unfortunately, really dry and dull. The book deposited exposition after exposition, and irrelevant details were droned on without any relation to the main plot. The technical terminologies were overwhelmingly complicated. The way the information was delivered was not better: it was given at face value, not to lure and bait us into the fun guessing games.
The second downfall was the lack of effort to build up a proper atmosphere and engage the readers. A basic murder story often centers around two questions: “Who is the murderer?” and “What are his motives?”. From there, the whole story will be set up to make the audience crave the answers. In my opinion, White Jaguar failed spectacularly at this. The moment when the victim’s body was found should have been the cornerstone to establish a sinister mood, here it was glossed over. We were supposed to get familiar with the detectives and empathize with their motives, their flaws, their quirks. In this particular novel, all I knew about them was that they talked a lot. Oh, and one of them had a wife! Even when the investigators were in dire situations, I did not feel an ounce of concern. The storytelling tone reflected no urgency, frustration, delight, or disappointment to capture my attention. The author might as well try to unravel a case of shoplifting with this level of energy. Overall, while my left brain almost exploded from the ridiculous amount of information, my right brain was wandering on the clouds as it found nothing worth clinging onto.
On a more positive note, the book was well edited. I appreciated Preben Orman’s extensive research and attention to details. The twist in the finale was good and unexpected. I was mad at the end of the book as the premise was really interesting and had potential to be an excellent suspenseful thriller. The author had good ideas for major plot points but could not find a way to piece them together. Therefore, the book needed a lot of fine-tuning.
I rate the book 2 out of 4 stars, and I am being lenient here as I realize this book is not for me. As aforementioned, White Jaguar had the perfect ingredients to make a good crime thriller, but the way they were cooked left a bad taste. Despite that, I think readers who like plot-driven books and are not bothered by dry details can give it a chance. This work will delight someone who is interested in technological conspiracies. However, if you are the type who prefers a cohesive story with careful character development, please carefully consider these points before reading the novel.
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White Jaguar
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