Publishers may choose not to market Cleyvis Natera’s The Grand Paloma Resort as crime fiction, but it will without a doubt please fans of that genre. It contains all the elements that make crime fiction so addictive—death, suspense, red herrings, investigation(s)—all while examining timely social issues in a deeply nuanced way.
The Grand Paloma Resort is a luxury vacation destination located in the Dominican Republic. A place where the ultra-rich go, hoping for a break from the trials of life back home. But that freedom also comes with a dark side.
Laura Moreno is a local Dominican who has worked her way up through the ranks at The Grand Paloma. She is currently the general manager of the vast resort and hopes that she’s done enough to show she is worthy of working at other properties in distant locales. Laura was the brains behind the Grand Paloma’s signature package—in which a “premium” guest/family is paired with a dedicated resort employee, tasked with making all their wishes reality. With some upper management headed to the resort, Laura wants to make sure everything is perfect.
Meanwhile, Laura’s problematic sister, Elena, works at the resort as a babysitter—looking after children when the parents are too busy or too relaxed to be bothered. This is where Cleyvis Natera wastes no time in getting the novel off to an electrifying start. Tragedy strikes when the young girl Elena is minding becomes severely injured on her watch, throwing the entire resort into turmoil. While attempting to escape the island, Elena encounters the father of this girl at an out-of-the-way bar—where he offers her an insane amount of money for some time with two local girls. She sees this as her opportunity to protect these girls while also getting enough money to ensure she can vanish from the authorities. But that plan goes awry when the two girls in question turn up missing.
As if this wasn’t enough complications for the plot, all of this occurs before it is announced that a hurricane is headed to the island. The Grand Paloma Resort is set over seven days as readers witness the tangled web created by these events. A constant reminder that behind every mirage of Paradise lies a truth that could shatter that illusion.
Under the surface of the novel runs a social commentary that examines the clash of cultures, the financial imbalance between employees and guests, and the overarching privilege that manifests in racial dynamics. Natera does an excellent job of embedding all of this within her narrative in such a way that it never calls attention to itself and feels wholly organic to developments on the page.
The pacing of The Grand Paloma Resort is near perfect. From a gripping start, Natera pulls back to allow the reader to catch their breath before the next unforgettable set piece scene. The constant ebb and flow of tension—much like the tides of the ocean and the passing of time—creates a rhythm which carries the reader along, always conscious of the high risk involved for each character.
The Grand Paloma Resort is a novel of dichotomies—this lush, ultra-exclusive vacation setting, with an underlying darkness that feels very noir at times. Then there is the difference between the two sisters and their outlook on both life and themselves. Next is this intersection of the rich guests and the disenfranchised employees. And lastly there is the clash between consumerism and the natural world (in the form of Hurricane Consuelo). The novel moves at the breakneck speed of a typical thriller—especially with the tight seven-day timeline—but also revels in lingering amongst the lusciousness of language, more in the style of literary fiction. While the crimes are never the focal point, they remain the motivating factor for much of the action.
With The Grand Paloma Resort, Cleyvis Natera has crafted something special. A book that defies categorization, but one that manages to satisfy a variety of different reading desires.
BUY LINKS: The Grand Paloma Resort by Cleyvis Natera
Disclaimer: A print galley of this title was provided to BOLO Books by the publisher. No promotion was promised and the above is an unbiased review of the novel.
