Publisher's Weekly
Aside from heated love scenes and references to homosexuality, Sutcliffe's ( A Fire in the Heart ) baffling novel set in 1870s Brazil reads more like a dated adventure yarn for boys than like the historical romance it purports to be. Sarah St. James's father, governor of British Guiana, committed suicide when he lost his own--and investors'--money in a failed attempt to steal rubber-tree seeds from Rodolfo King, a plantation owner who tortures his workers and holds them as virtual prisoners. To carry out the seed scheme, Sarah engages Morgan Kane, a crude American adventurer, and Henry Sebastian Longfellow, a Putumayan pygmy raised as an English gentleman. Each man bears a personal grudge against the patraop. 289 . The odd threesome begin what seems an interminable trek through the Amazon jungle, where they battle snakes, fire ants, alligators and other hostile wildlife. They are swept over a waterfall and find members of their entourage decapitated. Eventually the team finds and corners King, who yells, ''I grow weary of these adolescent games.'' By then, the reader can only agree.