Customer Reviews

The Panama Affair

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3 star:		(1)
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Chinese-American journalist Lucinda Leung has been too busy covering the world's hot spots to notice that her marriage is failing and her career is on the line.

Proving herself is paramount to Lucinda, whose father was executed for "economic sabotage" in Communist China. Leung paid the ultimate price to buy his daughter's freedom. And now Lucinda is paying the price as well.

After witnessing an audacious hit on DEA agents by Columbian drug barons, Lucinda is reassigned to politically unstable Panama where she meets Peter Morrison, a footloose shipping broker investigating the arrest and disappearance of a distant cousin.

It's instant simpatico between the headstrong Lucinda and Peter, and she agrees to help him by using her influence with the guerilla leader El Lobo. A choice that may cost her her life--or Peter's.

But THE PANAMA AFFAIR is more than the story of Lucinda Leung.

Evetts fills his canvas with a palette of colorful characters: Dona Olga Vasquez, head of the Popayan Drug Cartel; Mohan Krishnaswami, whose past is inextricably linked to Lucinda's; Kirsten Gustaffsen, ice princess and financial pirate; Tom Mcarthur, a shipping agent with CIA ties.

These diverse characters are caught up in a complex tale of political and industrial espionage.

THE PANAMA AFFAIR is a meaty and ambitious thriller spanning years and continents. Evetts has poured considerable research and experience into this inventive first novel.

For something completely different in the way of espionage and intrigue-a travelogue into hell-I recommend THE PANAMA AFFAIR .

The action begins in a bar in Bogota, Colombia, where American journalist Lucinda Leung has been invited to join the pub owner for a drink. Into that cozy setting, enter some friendly agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency--and behind them, revolutionaries firing guns. Thus begins a saga that tours three continents and crisscrosses numerous national borders. At the center of all this drama is Leung, as well as a nearly bankrupt and corrupt shipping executive Mohan Krishnaswami, who had been involved in dirty dealings with Leung's father many years before.

Although the intrigue swirls through London, South America, Asia, and the Caribbean, the pivot of the drug and political intrigues that Leung stumbles upon is the Panama Canal, a strategic military and economic linchpin of the entire Latin American domain.

Evetts has suited his tone and pacing to the novel's structure. Although Lucinda Leung, a hard-edged intellectual whose marriage is running down the tubes, is the nucleus of the story, multiple shifts in viewpoint add solidity and depth to a skillfully told tale. After 30 years spent in most of his novel's locales and in the shipping industry, Evetts knows a lot about exotic political, cultural, and business matters--everywhere. Thank goodness for a story intended for adults, refreshing in a mystery/thriller market littered with little old ladies who solve the odd murder.

The interweaving of characters, past and present deeds and misdeeds, and motives of revenge, greed, lust, and desperation bring vivid reality to this compelling entertainment. By rights, Evetts' fine saga should have been published by Simon & Schuster. Instead, the book is out from Writer's Showcase, well-produced and well-edited. Hopefully, The Panama Affair is only an introduction to this author's work. Anyone who enjoyed the spy stories that emerged from the Cold War will relish this piece of New World Order double dealings.

The action begins on the first page and keeps up the momentum until the final page. The characters come alive, and the author's descriptions of people and places, enable the reader to almost be there. I loved the heroine, very much a woman of our times, and I must confess to a sneaking liking of 'Mohan' (one of those involved in shady dealings). I hope that the author will write a follow up to the Panama Affair as I would love to know what happened to him! This book would make a great film!

Being a frequent traveler I usually take a book with me on my journeys, The Panama Affair took me on an around the world journey and kept my attention the whole flight (a rare phenomenon)and I couldn't wait for my next journey to finish it, but did so as soon as I got home. Evetts weaves into the plot the type of knowledge from 'been there, done it and got the tee-shirt' together with a very well put together novel that holds your attention through both a dam good plot and a variety of locations, characters and threads. I would especially recommend this book to people who have experience of the various regions (London, South America, The Caribbean and Asia) as it makes you feel that you are a part of the action.

Be spellbound by intrigue and the shadier parts of the human character.

the panama affair was one of the best thrillers i have had the pleasure of reading.Irank it up there with the firm and all the presidents men.

The author takes the reader around the world of shipping, banking, drugs and arms dealing at high speed. It is well researched and gives a good idea how the underworld and upperworld are intertwined and how some people are drawn into the system. A true thriller in the style of amongst others Grishham.