Chasing the Sun by Natalia Sylvester

Hi, readers! Today I'm a stop on the TLC book tour for Natalia Sylvester's debut, Chasing the Sun.

Four months ago, Andres's wife left him. They reunited but things have never been the same. So when Marabela doesn't come home one evening, Andres believes she may have left him once again. Then he receives a call: Marabela has been kidnapped. The people holding her want more money than Andres can possibly put together and have ordered him to tell no one about the incident. Desperate, Andres hires a mediator to help but otherwise follows the instructions he's been given - no police, no media, no attention whatsoever. As time goes by, though, it gets harder and harder to deal with this a secret.

This is yet another title in a string lately that seems at the outset to be a thriller but in actuality is not. Which is totally fine - but I wanted to get that out of the way right off the bat so as not to contribute to any sort of false impressions :)

The kidnapping itself is a vehicle for the story of Andres and Marabela's relationship, one that has been tense for quite some time. It's interesting too that Andres continues to have his own doubts and suspicions even after learning that Marabela has been kidnapped and has not in fact left of her own volition this time.

The book obviously touches on the politics in Peru at the time of the story (1992), which is a subject I know very little about. It was quite eye opening and prompted me to do some further reading on my own just to understand more about the setting of the book. It seems like a terrifying time to have faced and I found it interesting that the author noted the book was based in part on a kidnapping that occurred in her own family.

Chasing the Sun is a wonderful show of Natalia Sylvester's talent. She's woven a story fraught with emotion and tension that plays out in a truly captivating way.

Rating: 4/5

To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here.

For more on Natalia Sylvester, you can visit her website here. You can also like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter and Pinterest.