In the Forest of the Night

by Ron Faust

Martin Springer, an American doctor in Central America, joins forces with his archenemy's lovely daughter to rescue his wife, Katherine, from Senor Vaca, the vicious head of the secret police, who has condemned her to his private brothel to satisfy his perverted lusts

284 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Ebenmaessiger · Rating 4 out of 5]

a nice escape-from-captivity tale. and then the second half begins

[Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When bad things happen to good/normal people, even if they survive they will never be the same."

the image of the young prostitute with the badly-healed slashed face haunts me

Dr Martin Springer wagon a charity mission in a South American country and was kidnapped.
His wife Katherine went to rescue him and gets in way over her head, caught up in power intrigues with the local mafia guy Señor Cabeza de Vaca, a horrible man who routinely sleeps with all his mens' wives just to show them his power over them.

Fuerte - he was a wonderful character, crazy, bearded, extrovert; saved Martin, left him, was his "second" in a duel.

"The more naive and vulnerable you are, the more you have to lose in terms of self respect, esteem, sense of self and one another, if you clash with a very harsh reality.

I remember in the story that Katherine ends up as a prostitute in one of Cabeza's brothels. She manages to escape, though, but after she and her husband leave, they are forever changed, damaged.

I really thought it was a powerful, interesting, complex story.

[Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

great thriller/psycho fiction of rich white people going to central america, getting cross-ways with the "bad guys", turning into bad guys/twisted humans in the process in order to "win" (stay alive, escape, revenge). i will read more ron faust. very nice writer.

[Michael Morrison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Large cast of often interesting characters, hampered sometimes by awkward dialogue, involved in complicated and complex adventures, ultimately devolves on one family.
Leading to that denouement, though, the author, perhaps unintentionally, gives us another -- and horribly plausible -- reminder that governments, and their component politicians and bureaucrats, generally wreak havoc on the lives of the people.
A fictional Latin America country is wracked by internal war, with one side at least nominally supported by the central government of these United States -- so much straight out of the proverbial "today's headlines."
Brutality and viciousness and downright insanity reign, and, as usual, the innocent people suffer the most.
This book was published in 1993, but its story is, unfortunately, timeless.

[mercurialmadness · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could only convince myself to read 30 pages of this book. The story line was set in interesting location, yet lacking an interesting set of characters. The author could not decide the style of language to use, and the dialogue was careless.