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Waking Up in Medellin

Waking Up in Medellin

Intrigue, Romance, and Suspense in Colombia
by Kathryn Lane
Fiction - Thriller - General
270 Pages
Reviewed on 08/13/2017
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Author Biography

Award winning author Kathryn Lane’s debut novel, Waking Up in Medellin (in the Nikki Garcia Thriller Series from Pen-L Publishing) won:

 Silver Falchion for Best Fiction Book of the Year 2017 by Killer Nashville
 Silver Falchion for Best Fiction Adult Suspense 2017 by Killer Nashville
 Pinnacle Fiction Achievement Award (Fall 2016) by National Association of Book Entrepreneurs

The second novel in the Nikki Garcia Thriller Series, Coyote Zone, presents you with:
 high stakes danger in a kidnapping and human trafficking story
 Other subplots woven into the plot, such as romance, making this an exciting read
 The International Thriller Writers (ITW) Magazine “Big Thrill” provides an advanced review

Kathryn’s anthology of short stories, Backyard Volcano, (from Alamo Bay Press) will give you:
 A fusion between fantasy and reality
 Symbolism, punctuated by hints of surrealism
 Stories with unusual twists and turns – events in everyday life in Latin cultures

Additionally, her short stories have been published by:
 The Texas A&M New Border Voices: An Anthology
 Arriba Baseball! From VAO Publishing
 Swirl Literary Journal from Lone Star College-Montgomery Campus
 Alamo Bay Writers Anthology
 The Association of Writing & Writing Programs (AWP) featured Kathryn as a reader on the panel of Arriba Baseball! In Seattle in February 2014
Kathryn’s activities in poetry include:
 Serving on the panel of judges at Carver High School in Houston, Texas, for their finals in the Poetry Out Loud contest
 Being published in numerous anthologies, journals
 Two chapbooks, A Conversation on India and Spirit Rocks.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Romuald Dzemo for Readers' Favorite

Waking Up in Medellin: Intrigue, Romance, and Suspense in Colombia by Kathryn Lane is a novel that is fittingly described in the subtitle, a suspenseful romance with a biting spice of intrigue, a pulsating read that is hard to put down. Nikki’s auditing career has brought her face-to-face with all kinds of men. Still recovering from a tragic loss, she accepts this new assignment as a distraction, and now she finds herself in a business world dominated by men, investigating accusations of mismanagement. What she discovers will shock her, and put her in grave danger. As she navigates the dangerous Colombian business world, she has to deal with guns and a powerful attraction for a handsome man that deepens by the hour. Can she keep herself alive in a world filled with danger, where the most innocent passerby could be hiding a gun meant to blow her head off?

This isn’t your run-of-the-mill thriller, but a story with a unique plot and characters that are original and sophisticated. I enjoyed the international setting of this work and the intricate nature of the plot. Nikki is a character that will arouse the interest of readers, one who reminds me of the characters in Sidney Sheldon’s novels. The narrative is impeccable and Kathryn Lane is deft with the first person narrative. Waking Up in Medellin: Intrigue, Romance, and Suspense in Colombia is balanced, masterfully crafted, and engrossing. It is a story with powerful conflicts, escalating swiftly and culminating in a satisfying denouement. I enjoyed the narrative voice and the originality in plot and character.