Missing in Machu Picchu

by Cecilia Velastegui

Overview

High in the Andes Mountains on the legendary Inca Trail, four thirty-something professional women embark on an Ivy League hike to help them confront their online dating dependency, only to find themselves victims of a predator's ruse, and soon in a fight for their very lives. The women are eager to leave relationships behind for a while, but their intent to cast off their search for a soul mate falls by the wayside when handsome, magnetic Rodrigo, their hike leader, proves too mesmerizing to resist. Friend is pitted against friend as the women vie for Rodrigo's attentions. Rodrigo manipulates them into participating in a heinous ancient sacrifice that will guarantee the success of his megalomaniacal dreams. But unbeknownst to the hikers, they have been under the vigilant presence of Taki and Koyam, two elderly indigenous women who understand the danger the women are facing at the hands of Rodrigo.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780985176945
Publisher:	Libros Publishing Llc
Publication date:	06/04/2013
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Cecilia Velastegui was born high up in the Andes Mountains in Quito, Ecuador, where she spent her childhood. Although she now lives at sea level, she still owns two friendly alpacas. She was raised in California and France, and has traveled to over fifty countries. She received her graduate degree from the University of Southern California, and speaks four languages. Velastegui's previous novel, Traces of Bliss, received First Place in Popular Fiction at the International Latino Book Awards in June 2012. It was also selected by the Association of American Publishers on the 2012 Las Comadres and Friends National Latino Book Club. Her debut novel, Gathering the Indigo Maidens, was a finalist in four categories in the International Latino Book Awards. She donates a portion of her proceeds to the fight against human trafficking, which is an underlying theme in her novels.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Missing in Machu Picchu is more than a thriller. Velastegui's prose is dreamlike and evokes comparisons with the best writers of modern magical realism."
—ForeWord Review, 5 Stars out of 5

"The twists and turn of the plot are as intriguing as the beautiful descriptions of the Inca Trail."
—US Review of Books

Editorial Reviews

A group of American women decide to get over their misadventures in online dating by embarking on an exclusive hike of the Inca Trail in Machu Picchu, Peru, geared for Ivy League graduates and run by the charismatic and enigmatic Rodrigo. Of course the women don't know that their tour leader is a crazed sadist bent on stealing their money and seducing them into sacrifices he believes will make his depraved dreams come true. Velástegui may have enormous respect for Incan culture and complicated feelings about the influx of tourists to Peru, but that does not translate into an enjoyable novel. Her characters are too broadly drawn and intensely dislikable. Rodrigo is a cartoonish villain, his henchmen equally shallow, and the American women screeching caricatures.

Publishers Weekly

"Missing in Machu Picchu is more than a thriller. Velastegui's prose is dreamlike and evokes comparisons with the best writers of modern magical realism."
--ForeWord Review, 5 Stars out of 5

"The twists and turn of the plot are as intriguing as the beautiful descriptions of the Inca Trail."
--US Review of Books

From the Publisher

The twists and turn of the plot are as intriguing as the beautiful descriptions of the Inca Trail.

US Review of Books

Missing in Machu Picchu is more than a thriller. Velastegui's prose is dreamlike and evokes comparisons with the best writers of modern magical realism. (5 Stars out of 5)

ForeWord Review

A hike on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu leads a group of Ivy League women into the crux of deceit and debauchery in Velástegui's novel. Taki and Koyam, street vendors in the Plaza de Armas in Cusco, Peru, overhear several ladies talking about a tour group. The two elderly locals are worried when they mention their prospective guide, Rodrigo, who's notorious for his reputed involvement in child trafficking and hasn't shown his face in Cusco in two years. Taki, who has psychiclike visions, and Koyam trail the group as the women trek to meet up with Rodrigo, while revenge-seeking Violette, who once accused the corrupt man of sacrificing her baby, also shadows the hikers. The novel (Traces of Bliss, 2012, etc.) brims with historical facts, including recurrent allusions to Hiram Bingham, the explorer who claimed to have discovered Machu Picchu in 1911. Some of these passages, like specifics on mallquis (mummified remains used in worship), slow the novel's tempo a bit. Still, they serve a narrative purpose and occur less frequently in the more intense second half, when Rodrigo's plan comes to light. The five women of the group, all with hopes of overcoming the perils of online dating, are each given memorable personalities, including the dense but resilient Tiffany, who drives home points with "duh-uh." The evolutions of the individual women provide some of the book's pluses--their mutual dislike of one another is indisputable, but they gradually come to friendly terms during their ordeal. Rodrigo is an intimidating bad guy, complete with minions who do his bidding and a god complex; he quite literally believes he's Illapa, the god of thunder. The novel does have comic relief, mostly in the form of Sandra, whose accented English is phonetically rendered. She insists that others pronounce her name "Zahndrah," and she spends much of her time not spending money and even demanding a refund when she hasn't paid anything at all. There's also a considerable narrative bite--some characters end up battered and bloody, and others may not make it out alive. Fortified by vibrant characters and a tenacious plot; it packs a mean punch when readers least expect it.

Kirkus Reviews