Snow Storms in a Hot Climate - Sarah Dunant

...strong female protagonists - like Snow Storms in a Hot Climate. This novel is set in the booming cocaine trade of the eighties; Marla becomes entangled in it when it emerges that her best friend, Elly, has been in a relationship with a cocaine smuggler. Marla is an ice-cool academic and clashes with the drugs scene - even if she isn't the moralist that certain people expect her to be.

It soon becomes clear that Elly is in over her ...
...shows to dazzling effect in Snow Storms in a Hot Climate. It's never apparent where the danger lies or how serious it is, as Marla (and the reader) has to rely on the other characters' versions of events. As an historian, she's used to weighing up the evidence from different sources and extracting the truth, but can she come to the right conclusion in the present?

Dunant doesn't do stereotypes: Elly isn't the archetypal trophy girlfriend, ... more

Sarah Dunant is probably best-known now for her recent historical novels The Birth of Venus and In the Company of The Courtesan, but in a previous life she wrote intelligent thrillers with strong female protagonists - like Snow Storms in a Hot Climate. This novel is set in the booming cocaine trade of the eighties; Marla becomes entangled in it when it emerges that her best friend, Elly, has been in a relationship with a cocaine smuggler. Marla is an ice-cool academic and clashes with the drugs scene - even if she isn't the moralist that certain people expect her to be.

It soon becomes clear that Elly is in over her head and even her boyfriend, the charming and distrustful Lenny, is worried about her. Marla plans to swoop in and rescue Elly, bringing her back to England and safety, but it doesn't turn out to be that simple... Marla and Elly decide to take a break, staying in California with Lenny's "friend" J.T. whilst Elly mulls things over. She's overcome her addiction to cocaine, but is having trouble giving up Lenny.

As J.T. and Lenny give her conflicting information, Marla has no idea who - if anyone - to trust. Both of them claim to have Elly's best interests at heart. Each of them - Elly, J.T. and Lenny - give Marla their side of the story. She hears how Elly fell in love with Lenny when traveling in Bogotá, how she transformed the retail business he used as a cover for cocaine smuggling and how Elly got in too deep and let the drug control her (a rookie mistake, apparently).

J.T. has a more sinister story for Marla. Like her, he's a very private person who - up to this point - has said very few words. He tells her that he had to bail Lenny out of trouble once and Lenny tried to settle the score by "helping" J.T. - causing the death of someone who was threatening to squeal. Now, says J.T., Elly is in danger as the boyfriend of the woman who was killed decides to take revenge.

Marla's fears are roused by a mysterious campsite near J.T.'s home, where she and Elly are staying in a guesthouse. They seem to be astronomers, but their telescope isn't kept in the right position for stargazing - it's aimed at the guesthouse. She realizes that J.T. may be right and that Elly is in serious danger, so decides to convince her to return to England as soon as possible. The problem is Elly's allegiance with Lenny.

Dunant has a skill of building up tension and suspense in even the most ordinary of settings - as in Mapping the Edge and Transgressions, both of which are fabulous - and this shows to dazzling effect in Snow Storms in a Hot Climate. It's never apparent where the danger lies or how serious it is, as Marla (and the reader) has to rely on the other characters' versions of events. As an historian, she's used to weighing up the evidence from different sources and extracting the truth, but can she come to the right conclusion in the present?

Dunant doesn't do stereotypes: Elly isn't the archetypal trophy girlfriend, she's an intelligent woman whose independence has been compromised by personal problems. Likewise, Marla isn't some austere, emotionless academic and certainly isn't the tortured lesbian that Lenny would like to portray her as. He doesn't understand their relationship - can't understand it - and doesn't realise how close they are, or why. He thinks he can play Marla and Elly against each other, confident that Elly will be on his side.

Lenny is a fantastic character: charming, gorgeous and arrogant; intelligent, mistrusting and taciturn. He never lets anyone get too close for comfort. He develops strange obsessions with obscure academic subjects - he's reading Meeting at Telgte by Gunter Grass when Marla first sees him - and comes from a family so wealthy that there's no financial need (or much incentive) to risk trafficking cocaine for a living.

The reader is always in Marla's shoes, only discovering things when she does, which is very effective in this bright, glamorous, confusing world. Nothing is spelt out: the reader has to think things through along with Marla. The answers are neither clichéd nor obvious and the conclusion is both shocking and delightfully ambiguous.

Don't be fooled by the genre: this is no throwaway read. I find myself still thinking about it and debating what really happened! The story is complex, which some people might find off-putting (personally, I love a complex plot) and the reader often has to come up with their own explanations. Dunant guides us through the action, but she never forces us to accept anybody's conclusions - least of all hers. Her skill is remarkable, using implications rather than assertions and putting the reader in Marla's state of mind. It's a novel you feel part of - an experience.

Obviously, I highly recommend Snow Storms in a Hot Climate. It's worth any price - not something you can say about a lot of novels, especially thrillers.

Snow Storms in a Hot Climate - Sarah Dunant
ISBN 1-84408-187-7
RRP £7.99
£5.99 on Amazon. 

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