Red Jungle

Book excerpt: A riveting noir thriller from Kent Harrington set in Guatemala, Red Jungle stems from the author's intimate knowledge of the modern-day country and its legacy of 100 years of political tyranny. Russell Cruz-Price was the child of an elite family of American father and a high-society Guatemalan mother. After his mother’s murder at an early age, supposedly at the hands of communist insurgents, cheated him out of a normal childhood, Russell has come to view the world as a hostile place. Educated at U.S. military school and college, Russell is a financial reporter sent to Guatemala to cover a politically chaotic and increasingly dangerous economy, where prices are crashing and the policies mandated by Washington and the IMF have failed to keep the country from the brink of disaster. While on assignment, Russell befriends a young German archaeologist, Gustav Mahler, who believes that a priceless treasure from Mayan antiquity -- the legendarily lost "Red Jaguar" -- can be unearthed on a certain failing coffee plantation. The two men pool their resources and enter the jungle in pursuit of fame and riches. In the search for fortune, Russell will gamble his all in a game where not only his future, but that of the entire country of Guatemala is at stake.