The Devil's Mambo

Based on the book jacket, the book appears as if it's going to be like any other noir detective story. But as soon as you start to read, you realize this is something different. Esperanza experiences things that NO One should have to go through. I blushed at a few scenes and cringed at others but I had to keep reading! My biggest revelation was: this is an "Exciting New Genre!" (pun intended). Just think, erotic, Latino noir. A first....

The Devil's Mambo starts off with Nicholas Esperanza enjoying life. He's a former Navy Seal and NYPD homicide detective who hit a 30 Million lottery and provided an avenue for early retirement. He has the hottest nightclub in town, Sueno Latino, a gorgeous girlfriend, Legs, and a good group of longtime friends. In every way possible his life is fulfilled and satisfying, until one day Legs asks for a favor. Legs asks Nick to see her abuela (grandmother) about Alina, Legs' buck-wild niece who has run away from home on multiple occasions. Abuela is worried and having visions about Alina hanging out with a bad element, a dangerous crowd. Because he loves Legs so much, and because it suits his background so well, Nick takes on the challenge of finding Alina and bringing her back home. In no time at all, Nick is immersed in a world of sexual deviancy, where pain and pleasure is mixed, and for those seeking the extreme, violence and crime is added. He realizes that Alina has been hanging out with a tough crowd, from transvestites in underground sex clubs to pimps and prostitutes who have links to a world of degradation and sexual pleasure, and to Jason Ryback and his wife Mistress Devona Love. Jason Ryback and Mistress Devona Love are the extreme of all extremes; they are pain artists and torture experts, and they are intricately involved in the seedy world with which Nick will soon be familiar. They use people to fulfill Love's extreme sadistic desires, and sometimes to do the bidding of a shady, part-time employer named Bishop who is involved in the sickest of the sick: kiddie porn. In their daily lives, the concepts of asphyxiation, electrical play, and murder are as normal as eating corn flakes for breakfast. It's up to Nick to fight through the pimps, prostitutes, trannies, doms, subs, strippers, and murderers to find Alina within the New York underbelly saturated with sex, drugs, perversion, and crime. Along the way he gains first-hand knowledge and experience of the insanely intense world of hardcore BDSM. He learns his limits of pain and pleasure, and the extent to which the two coexist. He learns that in order to survive in such a bizarre and deranged environment, he'll have to find his inner-sociopath and ignore his burgeoning sexual desires. This is a hot page-turner that is so twisted and interesting that it simply can't be put down. It touches on the trashy nerve we all have within, the urge we have to peek at the magazines covered in plastic or the garbage tabloid. It's the desire for danger and the uknown that makes us attempt new experiences, and this book tugs at the roots beneath the tree of risk.

Demented, dark and gruesome. Those are 3 words I would use to descrbe Devil's Mambo by Jerry Rodriguez. It has to be one of the darkest novels I've read. It took me places where I only imagined in my darkest nightmares. It was like a guilty pleasure, the characters were so intrguing you had to turn the pages. You root for the main characters revenge as he's put through things no man should endure. Jerry's characters are rough and and unapologetic. If you're into noire I think you'll enjoy this book.

"Dirty." That's what all my co-workers are saying about this book. But what they also say, with a little bit of a blush, is that they couldn't put it down. Not your typical detective novel, Rodriguez certainly startles some by sliding the world of kink and play into his tale. But like his main character discovers along the journey, once you turn the page and explore the world of pleasure/pain it's not so easy to turn back. With a solid story to carry you through, this novel is sure to please even if you decide (or tell yourself) the "dirty" stuff just isn't for you.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Although some of the erotic parts made me feel out of my skin at times, the story overall was so engaging that I couldn't wait to return to find out what would happen next! The main character, Nick, is intriguing and complicated...and really pissed me off a few times, especially with some of his sexual escapades! But his Latin fueled passion adds a new flavor to the Erotica-Thriller genre. I highly recommend this book and eagerly anticipate a sequel or better yet, I'd like to see this on the Silver Screen!! --Khadijah Carter