Lone Star Book Blog Tour: Iberian Ties by Quintin Vargas (Review)

“It’s one thing to fight for what someone stole from you, quite another to eliminate bystanders.”

Iberian Ties by Quintin Vargas starts right off with a dead body. Or does it? For Dr. Nate Shelley and his fiancée, Miró Epstein, the questions surrounding an alleged murder in their hotel room in the Canary Islands just keep piling up. Are Nate and Miró suspects? Are they victims of a hoax? Are they in danger? Who is Penny Rhoads, and why would anyone want to kill her? This plot-driven crime thriller leads the reader on a chase for answers to a baffling crime that seems to have too many suspects and too many seemingly unrelated pieces to the puzzle. Determining who is on the right side of the law also proves to be quite tricky. Trust no one appears to be the rule in Iberian Ties.

Nate and Miró quickly find themselves in an international quagmire involving Interpol, a well-guarded suspect/victim who is too afraid to speak, and immense danger at every turn. Miró’s parents and her young daughter fly from Chicago to the Canary Islands to offer Miró and Nate their help and support, but are they now in danger as well? Questions abound, but the answers finally start falling into place one by one as the true colors of certain characters start showing and as evidence comes to light. While the unraveling of the mystery sometimes inches along, the overall pace is moderate, with the action quickly gaining speed in the ending chapters as Nate and Miró get too close to the truth and begin to see a possible motive for all the mayhem and murder.

Iberian Ties is heavy on the dialogue, the characters are engaging, and the overall motive for the murder and subsequent crimes is interesting as each detail is revealed. As with many crimes, greed plays a big role, with the ultimate perpetrator stopping at nothing to get what they want. As a side note, many chapters begin with bulletin-like headlines that position the timing in context with the most recent US presidential election and subsequent Trump administration. While the reason for this seems unclear at first, a passage toward the end might just offer an explanation for what at first appears to have no correlation at all to the plot and may or may not be off putting for some readers in today’s political climate. Keep an eye out for that scene toward the end to see if you come to the same conclusion. Intrigued? Pick up your copy of Iberian Ties today and enjoy for yourself this debut fiction by Quintin Vargas.

If you enjoy international crime fiction that keeps you wondering who did it and why all the way to the end, then Iberian Ties is for you. And that ending will make you gasp and wonder if the nightmare really is over for Nate and Miró.