Book 3 of the Luis Chavez series by Mark Wheaton, Wages of Sin, finds Father Luis Chavez still dwelling on the murder of his brother, Nicholas, some years ago; something he knows he’ll never get over. However, when Michael Story, Chief Deputy District Attorney finds a link between a new murder and Luis’ brother’s death, he begins to have some hope and try to solve the murder. Unfortunately, there are more murders and Chavez finds himself overwhelmed with all of the links to his brother. His investigation may well be the death of him.

Wheaton is an excellent storyteller and his writing is good and easy to follow. Chavez is a good protagonist and Wheaton is a well-developed character who is believable. The sub-characters are also well-developed, which makes reading enjoyable and makes it seem like these are real people.

This novel has a good plot and plenty of surprising scenarios that make the story flow. Readers will be on the edges of their seats, as the suspense builds throughout the novel. The dénouement is a surprise. This novel is worth reading. Wheaton’s previous novels in this series are also worth reading.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

I apologize but I was unable to get into this book so have not left any public reviews. I am removing older books from my profile and I am sorry that I was unable to read more of them. I will be more judicious in the future about which books I request and will keep up with publishing my reviews.

What was the reason for the death of Father Luis´s brother?

Ah wells. While I still like some parts of this series (the glimpses of real faith and the Mexico stay (as I love the country)), I must say that this was the book I had the most problems to connect with from the whole series. While the corruption of the Catholic Church is/might be a serious problem (as who knows what the truth is?), the plot is just a combination of motifs not backed by the real proofs, the internal logic is weak and the limit of random "secrets from the past" is too high for the plot to be believable.
As a Catholic, I also must say that I find the book being not objective concerning the religious aspect.

I’ve read the Father Luis Chavez series in order. What I enjoyed about the first two books was their strong characters and pacy plots and the way they immerse you in a world – the first, Mexican migrant labourers, and the second Triad gangs, as well as exploring the Los Angeles of Luis Chavez and his complicated relationships with his God and his past.

Luis Chavez was a gang member before he changed his life and became a priest, and still maintains a close friendship with his childhood friend Oscar de Icaza, who is involved in that world. A crime in the first novel brings him into contact with Deputy District Attorney Michael Storey, and despite conflicting aims and values they work together to solve a crime, a relationship that continues, with a certain degree of implausibility, throughout the series.

Wages of Sin is the third in the series. It begins promisingly with a life-changing event for Michael Storey and the discovery of a money-laundering conspiracy. There is also a possible connection to the death of Luis’ brother several years ago. Oscar is expanding his criminal empire. Meanwhile Luis is having a crisis of faith. These connected events soon mushroom into a massive plot which draws in all the key characters in the series, plus a significant number of new ones, with action taking place across continents.

In the earlier books we become immersed in the stories of the different characters and their worlds. In this one, there are so many people that I found it hard to stay involved. New characters whose stories were set up at the beginning were forgotten in all the rushing between locations. Luis’ questioning of his religion didn’t get the treatment I thought it deserved.

In the other books in the series the conflict comes in part from within the characters. Each time they struggle to escape their constraints, they are bound ever tighter by their irreconcilable desires and loyalties. Here it was much more on the outside. It’s as if he took Chandler’s wry observation on writing pulp fiction, “When in doubt have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand”, for advice. It feels like the interesting relationships built up in the earlier books were squandered as each of the main characters acted largely in isolation. And I’m afraid I saw the big twist at the end coming a mile off.

Luis Chavez is an interesting character and the books offer a fresh take on the amateur detective. They are best read in order as the series characters change during the development (and the later books include rather a lot of spoilers). If you’ve enjoyed the first two you’ll probably want to read this one too, but I feel a bit sad that the author hasn’t done his characters justice.

It's interesting having a different sort of investigator such as Father Chavez. He's devoted his life to the church since the murder of his brother.

His friend deputy Da Michael Storey finds a possible connection between the recent muder of his girlfriend and that of Father Charvez's brother .

There follows a story of corruption between the church and the Mexican cartels. There's lots of action and the book is fast paced.

Sometimes people look away and reveal themselves as so lacking in their own faith that they fear something on the other end of a telescope that will shatter it. But sometimes we look right at it but are too blind to see. Which is worse?

This is my first of the Luis Chavez series. Chavez is what I would call a rouge priest that is searching. Searching for his brother's killer and why; his own father who abandoned the family and is now back in Louis life a changed man; and the presence of God who seems so far away. I would not call this Christian book as it gets pretty intense as Chavez is dealing with the drug cartel and money laundering. The dudes that head these operations take no prisoners and nothing is sacred.

It begins with a accident of Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Story girlfriend who was killed in apparent car accident. With the help of Father Chavez they begin to uncover a tangled web of greed. In his uncovering, he discovers the role of the church and how to redeem what is broken. The Wages of Sin becomes a high price to pay as Chavez seeks the truth.

A Special Thank You to Thomas Mercer and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

This is the 3rd book the series. I prefer to read a series in order, but even so I was able to follow the story without missing too many of the vital points. I would however have liked to have the backstory of the main characters as they seemed to have met in the earlier books. It was still an enjoyable read in the sense that it was twisted and shocking.

Drugs, corruption, money laundering, murder and the death of friends. This overwrought book has it all and as a result it has nothing of interest.

I received a review copy of "Wages Of Sin: Luis Chavez Book 3" by Mark Wheaton (Thomas & Mercer) through NetGalley.com.

Wages of Sin by Mark Wheaton

4 stars

A captivating, thrilling ride of corruption and cartels in crime-soaked LA

Father Luis Chavez has dedicated his life to the church ever since the death of his brother Nicolas, who was caught in the crossfire of a drug-related shooting. Whilst the loss is still painful, Father Chavez has tried to put Nicolas’ killing behind him – that is, until his friend Chief Deputy DA Michael Story contacts him believing that the recent demise of his prosecutor girlfriend in a car crash was both deliberate murder and possibly related to Nicolas’ death. The two men dig deeper and discover evidence of a huge, international money-laundering scheme connecting American banks and the Mexican cartel. Whilst anyone associated with the case seems to be being picked off by the LA cartel’s hitmen, Father Chavez flees to Mexico where he discovers that the corruption goes even further than the two of them had realised. Story and Chavez have to work together to uncover enough solid evidence to take their loved ones’ murderers down but when possible links to the Catholic Church start to emerge, Chavez has to acknowledge that his life’s calling may not be everything it seems.

This was a well written and engrossing thriller that drops you straight into the action and keeps the pace up until you reach the climax. Despite being the third in a trilogy, I had no trouble in following the plot or understanding the motives of the characters, as the author included enough information on their past experiences to clue up the reader without majorly detracting from current events. Father Chavez was a likeable and interestingly flawed hero and his being a priest meant that aspects of his personality were unique compared to the protagonists of many similar thrillers. His relationship with God formed a big part of his character and even though I am not religious myself, this provided an interesting perspective on issues of morality and what is ‘right’, particularly in the context of members of the church working with the drug cartel in order to protect their congregation. Michael Story was also interesting and again riddled with imperfections, which added a level of realism to his character and also worked with the overall theme of the story, which seemed to be an interesting reflection on how nothing is truly black and white and several layers of grey exist in the morality and behaviour of society.

However, despite plenty of exciting twists, there were no really big shocks in Wages of Sin that stayed with me long after finishing it and would have made it a truly gripping action novel. Whilst it had exciting facets, the overall plot of money-laundering was a little bit slow-moving and not especially exhilarating, and sections of the narrative that focussed on the economics and banking aspect of the crime were a little dry. I was also not fully convinced of the relationship between Story and Chavez, as they barely seemed to interact throughout the novel and their motives for working together seemed unclear, although this may have been better explained in the previous two instalments. A few of the background characters, such as Story’s ex-wife Helen and her criminal boyfriend Oscar, also came over as a little incomplete but again this may be due to their characters being more fully developed in previous novels and despite this, they were certainly not flat or one-dimensional.

Overall, Wages of Sin has all the makings of a good crime thriller and is definitely worth a read for fans of this genre. It can also definitely be enjoyed as a stand-alone novel and reading the previous two instalments is not necessary to understand or appreciate this one. Despite a few minor issues, this is a clearly well-written book and I would be interested in reading more of the author’s work.

Daenerys

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

Father Luis Chavez has dedicated his life to the Catholic Church. He serves in Los Angeles and his neighborhood poses many challenges. He lost his own brother to a drive-by shooting. Recently, he has lost his “connection” with God amid increased violence in his part of L.A. It is when Chavez becomes a target of the cartel responsible for the violence that he discovers a money-laundering scheme that could involve the Church itself. He flees to Mexico, only to discover that the institution he has served all his life has been forced to do the cartel’s bidding in order to obtain much needed money for the poor Mexican towns it serves. In order to make things right, he will have to betray that which he holds most dear and he could very well be forced to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Wages of Sin by Mark Wheaton is the 3rd Father Chavez book, featuring a mystery-solving Catholic Priest. While certainly not a new idea, this book, at least, seems attempt to hold its own in this mystery sub-category. This is the first book I’ve read of this series and by this author and honestly, it could have been better. The plot idea was solid but the flow was a little sluggish. There was hardly any interaction between Chavez and Michael Story, despite what the synopsis might lead one to believe. The action didn’t take off until about a third of the way in and some of the flashbacks were not clearly defined. I am somewhat on the fence as to whether or not I will give Wheaton another try and can only give this book 2/5 stars.

The Wages of Sin is the third novel and a solid addition in the Luis Chavez Mysteries series. Novel starts with the murder of Father Chavez’s older brother that occurred many years before, and then the girlfriend of Michael Story, the LA Assistant District Attorney, dies in a single car accident that is ruled an accidently death. New characters are a recent immigrant from St. Petersburg, Gennady Archipenko, who works as a financial advisor for a major bank, and Father Chavez’s estranged father. There are continuing appearances of the major characters from the first two novels.

From the death of Story’s girlfriend, the story proceeds quickly and gathers steam with money laundering at Archipenko’s banks, bullets start to fly, and the CIA gets involved. The author does a masterful job in keeping all of the storylines coherent. Each of these storylines captured and kept my interest as they finally became parallel and supporting each other or merged entirely. This merging did take a little longer than in previous novels.

The B-story primarily was centered on Father Chavez’s reuniting with his father. Much more is learned about his early years and why he became a priest, and his youth when he ran around with Oscar de Icaza who also plays a significant role in this novel. Again, the author incorporates this B-story into the main story very well. If this is the first novel of this series, I do not believe not reading the first two will affect you enjoyment of this novel. All references to previous events appear to be well explained so as not to leave first time readers high and dry.

Now, about two-thirds the way through there was an incident that immediately made me say to myself, “That is just not realistic. It would not happen.” Also leading up to this incident, the storyline did slow down some. Thankfully, the storyline sped back up and even this incident was quite adequately explained.

At the very end of the novel, the author throws in a hook to peek the readers’ desire to read the next novel. I, personally, like to see these at the beginning of the next novel vice at the end of a novel. Unfortunately, this is all too common nowadays. I call it the “Who shot JR syndrome.”

Even with these really minor issues, I rate this novel with five stars. It really is about 4.5 stars but closer to five than four. If you have read and liked the previous novels in the series, put this one on your read list. If you have not read one or both of the previous novels, but have an opportunity to read this novel, do give it a try — I believe you will enjoy it.

I have received a free kindle version of this novel through NetGalley from Thomas & Mercer with a request for an honest, unbiased review. I wish to thank Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read this novel early.