The Orchid and the Emerald: Search for the Cure

William Gunn seeks a semi-mythical black orchid in an attempt to cure a mysterious fever which could kill his daughter. Nate Yankee seeks a fist-sized emerald called El Jefe. When the two of them find themselves heading for the same part of the Amazon, they realize they must work together, if they can trust one another at all.

I so badly wanted this book, with its backdrop of the Latin American revolutions and its background conspiracies against the protagonists, to be the riproaring adventure it is so clearly meant to be. Unfortunately, it dragged in places, and the complications introduced were too rarely brought up for them to have much bearing on the plot. In my opinion, it would have been a much stronger book if Mack had instead focused on the dangers of the jungle, which were more immediate threats to the protagonists and would have been fascinating if they had been fleshed out a little more. A tighter plot would have made for a much more exciting (and shorter) read, rather than letting it be an endless tome.