Four Days to Veracruz : A Novel [Hardcover]

Owen West (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 9, 2003

With style and nonstop action, Owen West, winner of the Boyd literary award for best military novel of 2001, returns with Four Days to Veracruz -- an adventure-thriller that sizzles with international intrigue, relentless suspense, and straight-from-the-headlines consequences.

Darren Phillips is a presidential aide, a Harvard graduate, a decorated Desert Storm veteran, and now a husband. Kate North, his new wife, is a world-class adventure racer whom he met on an Eco-Challenge endurance team. When an out-of-bounds kayaking excursion on the couple's honeymoon in Mexico lands them on the private beach of a violent drug dealer, their exotic getaway suddenly turns deadly. And Darren and Kate are, staggeringly, fugitives.

They escape to the local police station -- only to enter into a bullet-ridden confrontation with the dealer's federale brother. Broadcasting the carnage and devastation left in the couples' wake, the Mexican government declares them sex-crazed drug couriers and assassins, and the State Department, to avoid an international incident, tags them as murder suspects. But even as they flee, Darren manages to pass a message to his former roommate, teammate, and disgraced Marine corpsman, Gavin Kelly (hero of Sharkman Six, West's critically acclaimed first novel). The couple's only hope for survival hinges on Kelly's ability to interpret their message and to rendezvous with them in Veracruz.

The couple flees desperately on foot across the badlands of the Sierra Madre, unwittingly carrying a piece of the drug cartel's encrypted communication code with them. As they race toward Veracruz, they are pursued by corrupt Mexican police, federales, and bloodhounds. More terrifying, they are pursued by a man known as El Monstruo Carnicero -- "The Monster Butcher" -- a serial killer dispatched from the bloody desert of Juarez by the leader of the Mexican drug cartel. In all their military training, in all their endurance challenges, Darren and Kate have never before been tested as they are now, running for their lives across the wild belly of Mexico.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Darren Phillips, a major in the Marines, and his wife, Kate, never dreamed they would spend their Mexico honeymoon chasing down drug dealers and crooked federales, but that's precisely what happens in this shoot-and-pursuit thriller. West (Sharkman Six) wastes no time piling up the bodies with gunfights, stabbings, torture and mutilation. Both Darren and Kate are superb athletes, which comes in handy on the four-day adventure that takes them from Acapulco to Veracruz, across miles of deserts and mountains. Kidnapped by drug dealers, Darren and Kate kill their captors and escape with the drug cartel's super-secret, encrypted satellite phone, which they assume is just an ordinary cell phone. The drug cartel wants to retrieve the phone, but so do the CIA and FBI, who have been listening in. Every time Darren and Kate try to call for help, the phone reveals their location to the trackers and assassins following them. As Darren and Kate run for their lives, the CIA and FBI feud over jurisdiction, and the drug lords send an Aztec serial killer and a posse of corrupt cops after them. Meanwhile, ex-Marine Gavin Kelly (the hero of Sharkman Six), sneaks into Mexico to rescue his two friends, but runs into a vengeful DEA agent with a different agenda. The action is frequent and bloody, and the characters are Teflon superheroes whose severe injuries barely slow them down. There's plenty of excitement here, but not much else.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The author, a former marine platoon leader who now works as a commodities trader, follows up his exciting Sharkman Six (2001) with another fast-paced adventure. Essentially an extended chase scene, the novel features a resourceful husband and wife (he's a high-placed military aide, she's an adventure athlete) who, while on vacation, stumble across the hideout of a drug-cartel leader and soon find themselves chased through the Mexican mountains by an assortment of pursuers, including the Mexican police and the CIA. Gavin Kelly, Sharkman Six's star player, makes an appearance here, but this isn't a sequel. Four Days to Veracruz may not be completely original--there are shelves full of thrillers in which the heroes must rely on their wits to evade pursuers who are better equipped and prepared to kill, if necessary--but it is well executed, surprising, suspenseful, and satisfying. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (June 9, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743229827
• ISBN-13: 978-0743229821
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,069,275 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Owen attended Harvard University on an ROTC scholarship and rowed for the nationally ranked varsity heavyweight crew team. He served for six years in the Marine Corps and led an infantry platoon, an infantry company, and a reconnaissance platoon before departing as a captain to attend Stanford Business School. Upon graduation, he joined Goldman, Sachs as an energy trader, and is presently a Managing Director and co-head of the firm's veterans' network.

Owen has taken three leaves-of-absence in his 14 years with Goldman. In 2001, he attempted the North Face of Mount Everest, turning back above 28,000 feet. In 2003, he took a leave of absence and joined 1st Force Reconnaissance Company for Operation Iraqi Freedom. In 2004, he embedded with Marines outside Fallujah as a reporter. In 2006-2007, he led a small U.S. advisor team to an Iraqi infantry company on an outpost in Anbar Province.

Owen is an endurance athlete who has completed Ironman Triathlons, week-long adventure races, and 100-mile ultra-marathons. He has represented the United States six times in the Eco Challenge, a 350-mile expedition labeled "the world's toughest race," and has finished as high as 2nd, most recently navigating three Playboy Playmates to the finish line in Borneo.

His writings have appeared in The New York Times, Playboy, The Marine Corps Gazette, Proceedings, Slate, the Wall Street Journal, Men's Journal, Popular Mechanics, and Topic. His first novel, SHARKMAN SIX, won the Boyd literary award for best military novel of 2001. His second novel, FOUR DAYS TO VERACRUZ, was published in 2003. In 2005, he won the Marine Corps Leadership Essay contest.

Owen is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He serves as a director of the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Vacation from Hell, February 24, 2004

By 

Joseph G. Wick (Los Angeles, California United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Four Days to Veracruz : A Novel (Hardcover)

The author is a Marine, as are most of the "good" characters. So am I, so forgive a bit of prejudice. The main characters are husband and wife: a Marine and an eco-challenge racer (tough couple!) The book is one huge chase of the Marine/eco-runner couple through Mexico by Mexican drug lords, with minor bit parts by their Marine friends. Actually pretty stimulating. This is an excellent, if bloody, adventure on the order of Richard Hannay in 39 Steps. Lots of suspense, clever manuevering by the characters.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars exciting macho (even with a female co-lead) action thriller, June 16, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Four Days to Veracruz : A Novel (Hardcover)

When they reach the finish line of the New Zealand Eco-challenge, the military aide to the president, marine Major Darren Phillips plans to ask Kate North to marry him. Not long afterward, the duo are in Mexico for their honeymoon.

Kate persuades her husband to "break the rules" and kayak in a feral part of the country far from civilization. However, that takes them to a place where tourists, albeit even perfect physical specimens, do not want to travel without a platoon of Darren's comrades in arms. Drug cartel soldiers assault the duo though Darren and Kate manage to kill the first wave and steal a cell phone. The drug cartel needs that phone back as it is actually an encrypted satellite phone that the CIA and FBI, who have been tapping into it, also want back in the enemy's hands. Every time the duo uses the phone in their trek towards Vera Cruz, the device reveals their location to the assassins chasing after them.

FOUR DAYS TO VERACRUZ is an exciting macho (even with a female co-lead) action thriller that goes full throttle and beyond until the finish as the story line is all high octane energy. Characters from SHARKMAN SIX including the hero of that novel are part of the thrills so those fans of Owen West have more to cheer for the good guys. With a major death toll and a lead couple inhumanly ignoring or instantly healing from severe traumas while trekking in a hostile terrain, fans of this action adventures will want to join the courageous couple on their honeymoon.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Relentless Thriller, July 15, 2006

By 

A. Marchant (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Four Days to Veracruz : A Novel (Hardcover)

Owen West deserves recognition and praise for this thoroughly effective thriller.

Four Days to Veracruz follows the flight of a couple of endurance athletes who stumble onto the activities of a major drug cartel while honeymooning in Acapulco. They unwittingly pocket a spread-spectrum, GPS-equipped satellite phone which prompts a multilateral manhunt as the cartel, Federales, DEA, CIA, and FBI pursue the couple across Mexico to the Gulf. A background theme of the book is that intelligence agencies may have valid reasons for resisting cooperation.

Owen West's writing and dialog are transparent and carefully crafted. The plot is just complex enough, with multiple threads that provide dramatic relief as needed. The characterization does not reach the level of fine literature, but most of the characters are interesting and original. The overall effect is very cinematic, not unlike (but superior to) my previously favorite thriller, The Bourne Identity.

I was particularly pleased that Four Days to Veracruz is not encumbered by the PC constraints that make so many recent "thrillers" read like Five Year Plans.

My only criticism of the book is that it contains an uncomfortable level of physical suffering and violence described from the victims' perspective. But if you have a taste for high-octane adventure, you will swallow this book whole.