(Reviewed by Don Jung)
#CommissionsEarned
Rowena Aldus is an Oxford scholar whose passion is researching the venom in spiders to use for medicinal purposes in humans. Though she finds this fascinating, she struggles to get funding.
Author Christina Hoag details the hardships one has in living a very primitive life in the Amazon Jungle away from modern civilization. The descriptive narrative has you feeling how difficult it is with all the hazards of a jungle setting.
Unfortunately, the workings of the Venezuelan government start to impede her visa status. Venture capitalist Guy Westerphal discovers her research and comes to the rescue. He has the financial means and soon wins her over by seducing both her mind and body in order to market the venom to make a medicine to cure erectile dysfunction. They soon form a partnership to get the clinical trials done in hopes of launching this product. Rowena lets her guard down and allows her new partner to handle the business side of the company. You may think you know what is going to happen next, but it’s a lot more sinister.
This is where the story turns, and we find Rowena charged with a crime and she must escape only to be caught by guerilla terrorists and sentenced to a camp in an isolated jungle area. One feels her depression as she tries to survive in a hopeless pattern. To stay alive, she learns the medicinal value of plants and uses this to become the “doctor” for this gang to keep her alive.
How she overcomes her imprisonment and gets back to the United States is cleverly written and what happens in her next encounter with her former partner is surprising. How do you find someone who thought you were dead? And what do you do when you discover that you have been betrayed? What is the law of the jungle?
This is a quick read but the details on survival are well written and what happens at the end will stun you. For fans of crime fiction, Law of the Jungle is a definite page-turner.
