Maria and two of her siblings flee Mexico for the United States, illegally by way of the Rio Grande. Guided by human "Coyotes", they discover that the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence, especially when your powerful new employer harbors a dark secret within his heart.

REVIEW

A Mayan mystery unfolds as Marilyn Peake masterfully paints a colorful tapestry of images and sounds, while vividly capturing the harsh and beautiful landscape of the southwestern desert. In the intense heat of the guarded border, there is no escape from this suspenseful tale as it captures the danger and intrigue of a late night illegal crossing. The loss of innocence is the prelude to surviving a brutal night facing the raging muddy waters of the Rio Grande, before a brash coyote host conducts a brutal cross-country trip to their destination. The opulence of the mansion is unexpected and a dramatic contrast to former life. The gift of immortality concludes the adventure with an unexpected twist.

Reviewed by: Sue Thurman, Television Producer and Author
www.safarisue.com

EXCERPT

The singing water of the Rio Grande whistles through the desert, babbling across the polished stones worn smooth by centuries of washing. Five trembling Mexicans hide from view among the scrubby green bushes. It is dusk. The sun plummets from the sky in ribbons of hot color, like the glowing of campfire logs: blood-red, orange, yellow, licking blue tongues, the confused color of both heat and ice.

Maria yanks her pink woolen hat, smudged with desert dust, over her cold, sensitive ears. She pulls her tattered gray sweater tightly around her chest. Absentmindedly, she loops a pearly white button through a sweater hole, and wraps a shawl around her little sister Carmen. The oldest of seven children, this night Maria and her fifteen-year-old brother, Jose, plan to smuggle one of their siblings into the United States. If they succeed, their parents will follow with the others.

Two small, stocky Mexican men, smelling faintly of alcohol, huddle in their group, waiting for a signal from the Coyote, the guide on the other side who will offer them safe passage.