Puerto Vallarta Squeeze

October 23, 1995
Lighting out for new territory but going badly astray, Waller (Border Music) mixes his usual conceits with the outlines of a thriller. Looking for inspiration and a cheap place to live off his dwindling royalty check, over-the-hill writer Danny Pastor has come to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where he spends most of his time having steamy sex with Luz, a young peasant notable for her sordid past as a prostitute, her dreams of one day reaching El Norte and her obscene way of eating ice cream cones. The book opens with Danny witnessing the murder of an American naval officer; later that same night, he and Luz run into the killer in a bar. The "shooter" (which is how he is identified for most of the novel) offers Danny $3000 to drive him to the border, and Danny, sniffing material for a book that could remake his name, agrees. As the narrative progresses, it is the ``silver-haired'' shooter, Clayton Price, who emerges as the Waller hero, a man who honed his skills as a sniper in Vietnam, was captured and tortured by the Vietnamese and who became an assassin largely, we gather, out of loneliness. That particular problem is eventually solved by Luz, who teaches the shooter to dance (among other things). Meanwhile, various branches of the U.S. government are organizing a manhunt: the shooter, it turns out, had been working for a covert operations unit but had let his ``one personal vendetta'' get in the way of professionalism. As the trio make their way towards the border, they are slowly surrounded by a small army, allowing Waller several occasions to demonstrate his complete inability to write an action scene. These characters are flatter than cardboard, their situation is extremely unconvincing and the book is singularly devoid of suspense. But these weaknesses are nothing compared to the prose, which reads like an illiterate's imitation of Hemingway. Even the faithful may want to think twice about this one. Author tour; simultaneous Time Warner AudioBook.

October 1, 1995
In Waller's latest, his hero, Clayton Price, is the ultimate loner: a hit man. Of course, this killer is redeemed by Luz, the "whore with the heart of gold," who's not exactly a whore because she accepts pay only when she needs a new dress. The narrator Danny Pastor, a beer-drenched expatriate former writer, is Luz's abandoned lover. Danny and Luz are trying to get Price across the border to the United States before he's caught by the Mexican police or a CIA hit squad. The novel marries Waller's standard plot to an adventure chase, and the author claims the story is based on an actual event, going so far as to cite his research on the personality type of a sniper. One can only hope, however, that some day he'll research the personality of a three-dimensional woman. Waller has been unable to duplicate the success of The Bridges of Madison County (LJ 3/1/92), but he keeps on trying and his fans keep on reading. Most public libraries will need to purchase this book. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/95.]-Andrea Caron Kempf, Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, Kan.

September 1, 1995
When Danny Pastor happens to see an assassin in action in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, he thinks he's hit pay dirt--and about time, for the royalty check from his years-old best-seller gets smaller every month. So when the shooter proposes that Danny drive him north to the border, Danny agrees, even though his luscious, soulful Mexican girlfriend insists on coming along. There are some very heavy-duty hombres after the shooter, and the drive's no picnic. Still, "Bridges of Madison County" scribe Waller manages to include the obligatory romantic lull before delivering the blazing climax to his chase yarn. The whole shebang seems perfect for the movies. You can see and hear it as you read: that's John Huston intoning the narration, that's Robert Shaw muttering the shooter's words in a voice as stiff as a plank. And if you object that those guys are dead, well, this is an "old" movie--if not one of Huston's, then a Sam Peckinpah, lush and violent and sentimental, like cut wildflowers rotting in the sun. There will be those who just think it smells, but betcha it sells. ((Reviewed Sept. 1, 1995))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1995, American Library Association.)