Jon Evans's "The Blood Price"

Jonathan Evans's globetrotting thriller novel "The Blood Price" introduces the reader to the underground dangerous network of human trafficking to the west. Paul Wood, the protagonist of the novel, gets entangled in affairs of refugee smugglers in war-torn Bosnia. Those smugglers are notorious war criminals as well. To rescue his girlfriend Talena's sister Saskia from her brutal husband Dragan, Wood contacts Sinisa, head of refugee smuggling network. Paul, a computer programmer, agrees to build a website for Sinisa's organization and in reward gets opportunity to smuggle Saskia to America. He manages to run away with Talena and Saskia to Albania and then to Albania, Belize, Mexico and ultimately to America. But their real adventure starts in apparently safe America where the murky past of Sinisa's aides Zoltan and Zorana and Sinisa's cargo of refugees (zombies) threaten Wood and family's present life leading to the climactic showdown at Burning Man festival in Nevada.

The story gripped my attention till the end. All the characters are well sketched. None of the events gets boring. Some computer-related technological descriptions are difficult to understand, though. The story is relevant to Nepali context as we have heard many Nepalese taking the dangerous route of South America to enter the US, enduring hardships and brushes with death along the way. Evans had come to Nepal as well and in the novel he describes Pokhara as "backpacker's paradise". A very fine piece of crime fiction, this book is a recommended read for all.