Different as they are, the Varela brothers are bound by a decades-old secret surrounding the events of one long-ago night during their childhood back home in their native Belize. Today Patrick is the Miami-Dade County commissioner and a probable candidate for mayor of Miami, while his brother, Leo, a sometime poet and mental health worker, spends more time getting high than anything else. Still, they’ve both been struggling for years to completely sever their ties to their father, his illegal businesses, and his secrets.But those years quickly vanish the moment an old friend recently released from prison asks Leo to release a patient from the mental hospital where Leo works. He calls it a favor, but the threat is clear to Leo, Patrick, and---more dangerously---the men with a stake in Patrick’s political career. The request sets off a chain of events destined to lay bare once and for all the truth about what happened that night, and maybe even to pit brother against brother in their efforts to finally set things right.Moody, atmospheric, and evocative, Lonesome Point showcases the distinct and rhythmic voice that makes Ian Vasquez a unique talent among today’s crime writers.
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A book trailer for Lonesome Point, a mystery novel by Ian Vasquez.
Praise for In the Heat“Vasquez’s flair for plotting and storytelling adds punch to his rousing debut about a fading boxer looking for his comeback fight.”---South Florida Sun-Sentinel “In his debut novel, Ian Vasquez transports us to his native Belize, where the sizzling weather is the backdrop to a complicated detective job.”---New York Daily News “Miles Young, the hero of Ian Vasquez’s first novel, In the Heat, makes for a good new-age McGee.”---St. Petersburg Times “This is a straight-ahead, hardboiled detective story overlaid with superb atmosphere. The Belize setting puts Caribbean noir on the genre map.”---Booklist“[Vasquez] has created the perfect hero for the twenty-first century.”---Library Journal (starred review)
Ian Vasquez received his MFA while working on a psychiatric ward and counseling at-risk high school students. Raised in Belize and now a copy editor at the St. Petersburg Times, he lives with this family near Tampa Bay, Florida. This is his second novel.
Ian Vasquez