Why a Booktrail?
2000s: Dan Smith has a way of dropping you right into the heart of a location and then spinning you around with his prose. Here we’re off to Brazil and to the state of Minas Gerais in particular.
The Darkest Heart
What you need to know before your trail
Zico leaves behind a life of crime and violence in the favelas of Brazil and now wants to become a better man. But his old life has different ideas and he is soon tasked with just one last kill. If he goes through with it he could become richer than beyond his wildest dreams but it comes at a much higher price.
His mission is to kill a nun who is on her way to a village called Mina Dos Santos to negotiate a land deal there. Not everyone wants the discussions to go ahead. Not if it means losing.
Travel Guide
Be prepared for a journey into the darkest recesses of the human heart. A man who has escaped a life of evil now has to head to a village on the Rio das Mortas in Minas Gerais and kill a nun. (Piratinga is fictional but it seems eerily real)
The river symbolizes a lot of what takes place in the novel for its this river which is like a vein which runs through the heart of the country and the region, pumping vital supplies of water and food to those who live in the remote areas but also providing a means of transport.
The river also carries poison in the form of the killer on the boat and the boat itself is a no more than a bucket of rust which is probably also polluting the water too.
Even the crowd of those on the boat is like watching a microcosm of the people in a country – from all walks of life and entering the heart of darkness:
“..some of the fishermen swore they’d seen me who walked into the river’s edge before transforming into a caiman and sliding into the murky waters.”
The jungle can be a very dangerous place indeed and it is full of natural predators such as the animals which lie in wait and will kill you as soon as look at you. Not to mention the hunters and bandits who live in these parts and will do anything to protect their land.
The trip down the river is dangerous without even considering what lies at the final destination.
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information: The Darkest Heart
Author/ Guide: Dan Smith Destination: Brazil, Minas Gerais Departure Time: 2000s
Twitter: @dansmithauthor Facebook: /Dan-Smith-Author Web: dansmithsbooks.com
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