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Product Details
Atria, July 2009
Hardcover, 256 pages
ISBN-10: 1416542965
ISBN-13: 9781416542964
Read an Excerpt
Chapter 1
Description
In this mesmerizing debut novel by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Liz Balmaseda, one woman's hunger for justice becomes a journey into darkness -- and a punishing, soul-searching test of priorities.
Dulce Maria "Mary" Guevara is a woman with nothing left to lose. Wrongly accused of being a cocaine queen, she has lost her job, her reputation, and -- worst of all -- custody of her son. Even after the charges are dropped, suspicion lingers. Desperate to get it all back, she takes what she considers the only path open to her: She goes on a hunt for the real drug queen. Unfortunately, the one person she believes can help her is the last person she wants to see again: Joe Pratts, her ex-fiancé, a man whose connections to the drug world once ended their relationship.
Trying not to fall for Joe again is just the beginning of Mary's challenges, however. Her search leads her through the most deceiving of jungles: suburbia. There, she comes face-to-face with disturbing realities that challenge everything she thinks she knows about her formerly tranquil life. Mary's final dilemma hits closer to home than she ever imagined.
Sweet Mary is a gripping, heartrending story with a noir soul and plenty of surprising twists -- an assured debut from a writer with tremendous experience and talent.
"Liz Balmaseda is a gifted writer and a keen-eyed journalist, and Sweet Mary shimmers with authentic Florida heat. It's not often you find a thriller so richly textured, and so true to the culture and soul of its setting."
-- Carl Hiaasen, New York Times bestselling author of Skinny Dip and Nature Girl
"Sweet Mary, Liz Balmaseda's emotional, inventive and provocative writing, engrosses you in the most satisfying of ways."
-- Andy Garcia, Academy Award-nominated actor
"This book is teeming with sexy South Florida characters, but the biggest turn-on in Sweet Mary is Mary herself, a soulful, ass-kicking single mom who goes all out for the only real man in her life -- her son."
-- Carlos Coto, co-executive producer of 24
"Pulitzer Prize-winning Florida journalist Balmaseda makes her fiction debut with a fast-paced tale of mistaken identity and gutsy vigilante justice...Slick, efficient and spare, this story smokes like a well-rolled cigar. "
-- Kirkus Reviews
"A drug bust, law enforcement run amok, vigilante justice -- Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Liz Balmaseda transforms today's headlines into Sweet Mary, an exhilarating fictional debut....[Sweet Mary] will resonate with readers long after today's six o'clock news has been forgotten."
-- Carlos J. Queirós, AARP SegundaJuventud
"Former Miami Herald reporter and two-time Pulitzer winner Liz Balmaseda goes from star journalist to debut novelist with her sleek ripped-from-the-headlines Sweet Mary....Sweet Mary is a wild ride, not just for Maria but for the reader."
-- The Miami Herald
"[Liz Balmaseda] knocks readers in the gut with her fast-paced fictional debut."
-- Associated Press
PalmBeachDailyNews, December 1, 2009
...and silent auction, the afternoon progressed to luncheon, and a speech by author and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Liz Balmaseda. Balmaseda won her first Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on Miami's Haitian refugees and Cuban American ...
Miami Herald, November 14, 2009
...design. It's hot and sultry, the perfect backdrop -- and what every swimsuit should be.'' • For Liz Balmaseda, finishing book is just the beginning The first sign my adventure in fiction writing had veered into the surreal came on the day ...
Miami Herald, November 8, 2009
...Tere Figueras Negrete is a an editor for Neighbor's section. She asked this of Pulitzer Prize winner Liz Balmaseda, formerly of and currently a columnist for The Palm Beach Post, whose new book is ``Sweet Mary'' (Atria Books, a division of ...
Book Reporter, August 14, 2009
...make a deal, you and me,? I said. ?I?ll take it,? he said. ?I?ll take it, Sweet Mary.?? ?I should have come to expect that no matter how hard I work, how much I achieve, how generous I try to be, I will always be the outsider ...
Wicked Local Milford, July 29, 2009
...for work when U.S. marshals suddenly show up at her door. The next thing the heroine of "Sweet Mary" knows, she's in handcuffs. The marshals have a warrant for her arrest on cocaine-related charges. Never mind the name of the woman in the ...
Knox News Sentinel, July 17, 2009
...'Sweet Mary' (Atria Books Hardcover, 242 pages, $24.99), by Liz Balmaseda: Real estate agent and single mom Mary Guevara is preparing for work when U.S. marshals suddenly show ...
570News, July 13, 2009
...for work when U.S. marshals suddenly show up at her door. The next thing the heroine of 'Sweet Mary' knows, she's in handcuffs. The marshals have a warrant for her arrest on cocaine related charges. Never mind the name of the woman in the ...
Metronews, July 13, 2009
...for work when U.S. marshals suddenly show up at her door. The next thing the heroine of "Sweet Mary" knows, she's in handcuffs. The marshals have a warrant for her arrest on cocaine related charges. Never mind the name of the woman in the ...
Sacramento Bee, July 13, 2009
...'Sweet Mary' (Atria Books Hardcover, 242 pages, $24.99), by Liz Balmaseda: Real estate agent and single mom Mary Guevara is preparing for work when U.S. marshals suddenly show ...
Examiner.com, July 7, 2009
...What: Pulitzer-prize winner Liz Balmaseda reads and signs her debut novel, Sweet Mary. Where: Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables, FL 33134; phone: 305-442-4408 About the book: Dulce Maria 'Mary' Guevara is ...
Miami Herald, June 27, 2009
...Joel Brown, who presided over the earlier paternity action. FACT AND FICTION Former Miami Herald Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Liz Balmaseda's first novel is due out in two weeks. Title: Sweet Mary (Atria/Simon & Schuster). Balmaseda, 50, ...
