Customer Reviews

Sugarland

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sugarland is a 1991 mystery-adventure novel by Phillip Finch. The novel's strengths are its vivid depiction of the Filipino underworld and some nice plot twists. Unfortunately, it is also a bit predictable and that keeps me from giving it more than three stars.

The novel centers on Jack Hart, a former San Francisco cop who was wounded on the job and then left the force. Hart's personal life is also a mess; he is divorced and has little contact with his daughter. To make ends meet, Hart investigates fraudulent claims for an insurance agency. At the beginning of the novel, the agency discovers that a young man who reportedly died may be alive and well in a remote part of the Philippines. Hart then travels to the Philippines to investigate.

Perhaps the best aspect of Sugarland is its vivid depiction of life in the tropics. Hart finds himself in a world where the rules that he learned in the U.S. simply don't apply. Another plus is that Finch's "bad guys" are well-drawn, interesting characters.

Though Sugarland has the potential to be excellent, Finch doesn't quite pull it off. The book has too many "pat" elements that make it predictable. For instance, Hart meets an exotic local beauty and they quickly fall in love. The book also has some predictable lectures from the locals about how Americans don't know how good they have it. Finally, Finch throws in some goodhearted communist rebels who are battling the evil local land barons.

In the end, Sugarland is worth a look, but it's best for readers who want simple escapism.

This one is supposed to be good, but the premises from the very beginning are not quite believable. For a $50,000 life insurance fraud, the insurance company would send an investigator to the Far East, to a mid-of-nowhere small Phillipine(?) island to dig out that low life? Get of here, man! Especially a second private dick is still a GO after the first one has been murdered? Are we talking about the $50,000 in the late '40s or '50s, when this currency was so valuable? Nah, my man, this is a story in the late '90s, U.S.$ is already fluctuated and devaluated paper money, although the greenness and the dead presidents are still the same. Sigh....but anyway, the story is not bad at all, very interesting sugarland view and storyline.