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Please note: This novel contains adult language and sexual situations.
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Author: Gary Ludwig. Publisher: Basket Road Press. ISBN# 978-0-9815099-1-4. Second Edition. Hardcover. 220 pp. 5.75” X 8.5”. NEW BOOK WITH DUST JACKET. Book is also available in Softcover.
Mexico Road is not about Mexico. It's about a dusty, dirt road in Pennsylvania that leads to sex and murder.
People would rather keep to themselves than stick their noses in the affairs of others. While it may enable a simpler less troubled life, minding your own business often allows bad things to happen around you—because no one steps in to cause otherwise. Open your mind to how being mindful can very well save the day in Gary Ludwig’s novel, Mexico Road.
Set in post World War II, Mexico Road ushers you into rural Pennsylvania on a dusty countryside road, named by veterans returning from the Mexico War, that winds around a farm, the home of a beautiful Pennsylvania German girl raised in a strict religious faith. The girl’s name is Martha Dern and her rebellious behavior and fascination with detective work has gotten her in trouble more than once. And to further complicate things, her family and church leaders have forbidden her to be with the boyfriend she is meeting secretly and hopelessly in love with. But in this story, her snooping around has landed her right into the pit of danger where she has only her wits to get her out alive. A band of racist murderers in the county have a grand plan and sinister mission and Martha stumbles into them and their plot. She’s in hot water now, but her gritty character and unexpected love have her compelled to escape death and perhaps bag the bad guys.
Mexico Road is a novel that will keep you following Martha to the end. Consisting of great story ingredients—well-developed characters and detailed settings, strong conflict with bloodshed and strong sexual situations, and an exciting plot—this book is a true adventure that is easy to enjoy.
Reviews from amazon.com
by: Gappsy 1/7/11
Reading a novel and not feeling part of it is disappointing to me. That is definitely not the case with Mexico Road by Gary Ludwig. Ludwig, a talented and creative writer, goes to great lengths to draw the reader into the story. Ludwig has been criticized for over-describing the people, places and things that make up his novels. But I personally enjoy becoming close to the characters and experiencing smelling the places where the story takes place. The characters live like the rural, minimally educated people that they are. Their German and Italian cultures are thickly depicted, accentuated by the physical appearances, the customs, the habits, the food, and the common man language. This is a good versus evil story if there ever was one. The young innocent girl is desired by most men she comes into contact with. She's surrounded by evil behavior at one extreme, and conservative religion at the other. She's a girl with a good head on her shoulders and deals with the immorality surrounding her by dreaming of becoming a detective, which she feels is a rational way to fight criminal behavior she witnesses every day. She wants to get an early start in police work, but her snooping gets her into big time trouble. The violence, explicit language and graphic sexual situations, along with racism, exploiting weaker individuals, and ultimately murder, are an appropriate fit in this novel's gritty story. While experiencing the struggles between Ludwig's good and evil characters, the reader soon realizes how authentic the whole story really is. This is a great book for romantics as well as mystery and murder story fans. Mexico Road is Gary Ludwig's first novel, and there are some flaws. But it's a good book to take to the beach or cuddle up with on a cold winter weekend. I enjoyed it and recommend it.
by: Eileen C. 6/30/10
When you open this book you enter a world of conflicts during the first few years following World War II. There is forbidden love between two young adults. The girl battles her family and church to be free to help the boy. Her detective skills allow her to foil plots by mob characters and Nazis racists. She never lost her love for the 15 year old boy she met, even when they were forced to be separated.
I deemed it a true love story and appreciated it for that. I love that the book was also a thrilling mystery. The author should be commended for the mix. An excellently written novel.
by: Radica 6/28/10
The heroine in this gritty, down to earth thriller, Martha Dern, is a young, stubborn and determined girl who isn't easily intimidated. She wants to leave the farm and become a detective, and her fearless approach to racist murderers, mobsters, and other sleazy characters, plus resisting her ultra-conservative church and family for the young man she loves, is a good story about goodness and young love overcoming adversity. The book, featuring sex and profanity that's integral to the story, provides the sights and smells that puts the reader right in the midst of all the goings on.
by: Beth Miller 6/13/10
When I started to read this book I soon realized that the reader needs to keep in proper perspective characters who are products of the rich, conservative Pennsylvania German culture clashing with unsavory characters who are part of organized crime. The strong sexual content and gritty, crude language are realistically depicted, and I particularly enjoyed the writer portraying a graphic, realistic look at the environment in which the story takes place. The author bio states he has been a journalist, editor, fiction and non-fiction writer, and biographer who has received rave reviews for his various works. I found the narrative well constructed and easy to read by an obviously talented writer. The author's style seems to me to be more descriptive than perhaps necessary, but the result is well-developed characters and detailed settings featuring crime, romance, and sexual situations making up an exciting plot.
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