Review: Strong travel writing in a weak crime story (3.5 stars)
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 7, 2014
Travel editor Hilary Pearson has gone missing during a trip to Bolivia and travel writers are blaming the resort that hosted her trip (which is like blaming Donald Trump if a guest at Trump Towers wanders off and never returns). Hotel publicist Pilar Rojas wants her former lover, travel writer Jacob Smalls, to come to Bolivia to search for Pearson. Smalls, who happily writes puff pieces about hotels and resorts in exchange for a few free nights of lodging and a complimentary bottle of wine, accepts the challenge.Accompanied (for comic relief, apparently) by a guy named Kenny who had a strong crush on Hillary, Smalls anticipates spending an expense-paid week at a top resort with sexy Pilar. Instead he finds himself accosted by a variety of tough guys with divergent political leanings who question his agenda. Kenny's approach is to blurt out questions about Hillary at random, causing more trouble for Smalls, who becomes Kenny's protector.Smalls' ability to get comped on hotel rooms and (less often) air fare is the most interesting part of The Travel Writer. Almost as interesting is the novel's exploration of politics and poverty in Bolivia. Whether the novel's political viewpoint (which seems rather one-sided) is accurate I can't say, but the political motivation for some of the novel's occurrences adds flavor to the story. I also liked the travel writing as Jeff Soloway describes the various hotels, markets, and sights that Smalls visits in La Paz before making his way to the mountain resort. Less interesting is a plodding set-up, including a long-winded account of Smalls' relationship with Pilar. Smalls' romantic pursuit of Pilar later in the novel is a banal addition to the story, although I give Soloway credit for not allowing it to follow a predictable path.The Travel Writer is meant to be a suspense novel but the suspense is lacking. I enjoyed reading some of it because there is a good measure of cleverness and wit in Smalls' first-person narration of the tale. The mystery of Hillary's disappearance turns out to be something less than a nail-biter but it is at least plausible. A bit of action at the end enlivens a story that is often more dull than a crime novel should be. On the whole, I would give The Travel Writer 3 1/2 stars, rounded up to 4 because I liked the descriptive travel writing and because Smalls' cynical wit appealed to me.