Possible Trigger Lots of Drug Abuse
I have read this author for more year than I care to think about. I own and have read everything she had written as Barbara Michaels. Most of these are chillingly wonderful, haunted house/ghost stories. Sadly. something very bad must have been going on in her life at the time she sat down to pen this. I borrowed this one from the library....and my friend that works there told me that she wasn't going to tell me much about the book ...but that it was "different". That was the understatement of the entire century. Quite frankly, it was probably the worst thing I have ever read by ANYONE. It was like a continuous furious rant at life. The very last thing I ever expected of an Elizabeth Peters book is for it to make me depressed and anxious. Reading about a heroin drug smuggling operation south of the border, LSD trips, the effects of drug abuse, and even sadism isn't in any way the norm from this author. It's not that I can't or won't read about those things, but when I do, it's because I intentionally chose to do so. Think about how you would feel if you bought what was supposed to be an inspirational romance in a Christian bookstore and discovered that you were reading hard-core porn instead. This book was written in 1971 and Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels passed away in 1977 so maybe things were already going bad in her world. If you are an "old" fan, you can probably read this with sympathy for whatever caused this wonderful writer to pen this "toxic garbage". If you are a new reader...please read her earlier books, like [Ammie, Come Home], my absolute favorite, and [Stitches in Time] both that she wrote as Barbara Michaels, or her Amelia Peabody series that was written as Elizabet Peters...but please know that this one is as off her norm as the sun is from the Earth. ( )

As I read through this stack of Elizabeth Peters’ books a friend gave me, I am really beginning to sense a pattern…

A young girl with serious daddy issues and an obnoxious suitor travels to Mexico to find her father, but ends up finding herself in mortal peril when she uncovers an international drug smuggling ring.

So formulaic and repetitive!
Stupid heroine with daddy issues…check
Exotic location…check
Obnoxious jerk/love interest…check
International looting/smuggling plot…check
Bored, irate reader…double check!
Sheesh! ( )

Synopsis: A young lady is still haunted by her father's desertion of she and her mother. Letters begin arriving that place her father in Mexico. Over spring break she decides to try to trace her father. She and her boyfriend travel to Mexico City, find her father, and the family with whom he is living. The young man of the family is a guide and offers his services to show her the pyramids. Her boyfriend sinks into the drug culture. She has to decide what is and isn't true about her father and whether she wants to continue in a relationship with him.
Review: Really predictable, however, it is also brain candy. ( )

Carol, on a break between semesters from an unnamed midwestern university, uses some of an inheritance she and her mother received to visit Mexico. Her drug-addicted boyfriend Danny accompanies her. She intends to visit her estranged father George after receiving anonymous notes about him. Her father lives with a Mexican family. Ivan invites Carol to join one of his tours of Teotihuacan, and she falls in love with the site. Following an incident, she moves out of the hotel and into the house with her father. Danny experiments with more dangerous drugs. Carol soon realizes something related to drug-trafficking is afoot, but she isn't sure whom she can trust. This book first appeared in 1971. The story fits that time and place and probably received an enthusiastic reception by readers. Today's reader will recognize the "preachiness" against using narcotics and respond less favorably. The audio version by Grace Conlin is not recommended. She reads more as a narrator than as someone trying act the parts with enthusiasm, fear, and the other range of emotions characters should be feeling. The voice did not fit Carol. This book differs significantly from other works I read by the author. ( )

Interesting, memorable. Very different from Amelia Peabody but well written ( )