101 WAYS YOUR MOTHER SAID YOU COULD DIE
by Chris Culler
In Culler’s (Giving Good Hollywood, 2011) latest romantic thriller, a timorous widow reconnects with her first love—who may be harboring a few too many secrets.
It’s been three years since Californian Mira Barnes’ husband, Charlie, died in an accident. Mira suffers from panic attacks, as well as debilitating fears instilled by her onerous, clinging mother. She’s terrified, for example, to drive on the freeway, but she must do so to deliver decorative planters to a wedding reception as part of her job. At that same reception, she meets Alejandro de la Torre, who was her first love when they were both teenagers. They spend the night together, and soon Alejandro invites her to join him in Cali, Colombia. Although she’s initially reluctant, Mira eventually leaves her mother with her younger sister’s family in Michigan and hops on a plane. But Alejandro turns out to be associated with a member of a drug cartel, and Mira realizes that she may have escaped her fear-riddled former life only to become a captive in South America. Culler’s novel refreshingly complements the romantic tension between Mira and Alejandro with mystery and a hefty amount of wit; at one point, for example, Mira regrets giving her mother a key to her house after she walks in on Mira and Alejandro in bed. The scenes in Colombia become more intense as the couple stays at the mansion of the shady Mauricio, the groom at the aforementioned wedding reception. Alejandro cryptically warns Mira to pretend that she doesn’t understand Spanish; as a result, she overhears someone talking about her dead father. Culler’s chapter titles are particularly astute: Each is a bizarre proverb from her mother, such as, “If you think people are conspiring against you, you’re probably right.” They’re a constant reminder of Mira’s trepidations, which, in Colombia, she has no choice but to face head-on. However, the story resolves all the questions it raises and provides a gleefully open ending.
An enthusiastic, passionate novel that’s part romance, part adventure.