Dying Gasp

By Leighton Gage

The granddaughter of a prominent politician is missing. Silva and his team find her in Manaus, a jungle hellhole on the Amazon where an evil female doctor is making gory snuff films. Silva must overcome his own department’s indifference and the corrupt local cops before he can obtain a semblance of justice for the victims.


From the Hardcover edition.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jan 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9781569478400

Reviews for Dying Gasp

[maneekuhi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Third of a 3 book series, first I've read. Brazil. Will read the series !CI Mario Silva, Fed police, Brasilia. Goes to Manaus to investigate snuff films, murders, rapes, prostitution, child exploitation, and kidnapping The kidnap vicim is a tough 15 year old daughter of a politician who resists and fights, and is killed. No heroic last minute rescues here.

[smik_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Now, I "knew" which order to read these books in, but I've read this one out of order. The upside of doing that is, that, although I thought perhaps I'd forgotten some details from the earlier book THE BLOOD OF THE WICKED, the novel really works quite well as a standalone.DYING GASP does not paint a pleasant picture of Brazil and particularly of Sao Paolo where "real power was in the hands of feudal families, and it had been that way for four hundred years". And in the city of Manaus in the South is one where the police, the administration, and the criminals are hand in glove, deep in corruption.Finding out what has happened to Marta Malan, a 15 year old who ran away from home, is not going to be easy. Mario Silva's boss Sampaio is under pressure from Deputado Roberto Malan to find his grand-daughter. And Malan has clout: he is the head of the Appropriations Committee in the Chamber of Deputies, and can affect the federal police budget. Normally hunting for a missing teenager would not be a job for the federal police, and she has been missing for more than two months.Inspector Mario Silva, his nephew Hector, and Agente Arnaldo Nunes are tough customers, federal police, not affected by local politics, but even so orders are relayed from the federal authorities to the local police to ensure utmost cooperation.I found this a real "page turner". There are some truly horrifyingly corrupt characters, and at the same time we learn much more about Mario Silva and his family.The story keeps the reader in its grip, right to the end.

[cathyskye · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

First Line: The bomb aboard the number nine tram claimed seventeen lives.Normally a missing teenage girl doesn't raise many eyebrows, but when she's the granddaughter of a prominent politician, Chief Inspector Mario Silva's ambitious boss is practically jumping through hoops to earn Brownie points and keep the man happy.The girl's disappearance is tied to kidnapping and the extremely lucrative international trade in underage girls, prostitution, and snuff films. Her trail leads Silva and his men to Manaus, deep in the Amazon basin in one of Brazil's poorest provinces. While the teenager fights against her fate, Silva and his team tries to find her before it's too late.I am a mystery series junkie; I have no clue how many mystery series I follow, and the number would probably shock me. One thing I do know is that, since I began reading the Chief Inspector Mario Silva series, it has become one of my top ten favorites.Gage's novels have introduced me to a part of the world about which I was ignorant, knowing more about its early history than what is going on there now. A strong sense of place is always present in my favorite series. Few writers capture this as well as Leighton Gage.I am also a character-driven reader, and characters abound in these books, from Silva's bumbling boss, to Silva's crack team of investigators (especially Arnaldo whom I depend upon for much needed comic relief), to Silva himself-- a man who has no illusions about the corrupt system in which he works.A strong point in Dying Gasp for me was the missing girl, Marta Malan. At first glance, she's a typical rich girl who believes she's just that much better than everyone else, but as she fights her captors in order to stay alive, my contempt for her underwent a sea change.One of the characters from Buried Strangers appears in this third book in the series. An evil person with absolutely no concept of right or wrong, this character made my skin crawl, and her death seemed strangely anti-climactic in Dying Gasp. However, it did serve as a vivid contrast to young Marta's struggles.I am going to be very sad when I've caught up with this series. What a drag, waiting for each new one to be published!

[valca85 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the third book in the series, a captivating look at the child-prostitution trafficking in Brazil. The author was kind enough to offer me both this book and the second one and I am very thankful. I truly enjoyed it. The writing was as concise as the first one, but the story was even more thought out, the complex plot lines merging and weaving together in an almost seamless fashion. It was fast paced without being manic, and I for one, never found myself bored or confused.The characters are the best part of these two books. The main character Mario Silva, is a quirky mix of charisma, sarcasm and intelligence, and the supporting detectives, or agents, provide plenty of comic relief in a book that could easily have become too depressing for the common reader. The villain, whose identity I will not reveal because I don’t want to ruin it for anyone, is fantastic. I highly enjoyed following her/his (if I say the genre, it’s too easy) depraved plots. What I enjoy most in these books is the clarity in the writing. There is no attempt to fool the reader, only to tell a story well. That to me, is refreshing.

[pharrm_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

from Poisoned Pen - "Chief InspectorMario Silva cannot divorce Brazil’s politics from his cases.Especially as his boss is a real political animal. So when thegranddaughter of a rich, prominent politico from Recife disappearstogether with her girlfriend off a local beach, Silva and his teamare ordered to make the runaways’ case a priority. Were the girlshijacked by promises of modeling work, or is it just teenagerebellion, or??? Answers lie in that hellhole on the Amazon calledManaus, so you get a tour of the future Olympics host countryhere. The Silvas are dark, complex, and richly atmospheric."