cover image MAMBO PELIGROSO

MAMBO PELIGROSO

Patricia Chao, . . HarperCollins, $24.95 (300pp) ISBN 978-0-06-073417-6

The pulsating world of Latin music and dance in New York City stars in Chao's well-written if uneven second novel (after 1997's The Monkey King ), which explores the cross-cultural experience of Catalina Ortiz Midori—half Japanese, half Cuban, raised in New England—as she becomes a disciple of El Tuerto, a world-class dancer who teaches a class on the "dangerous mambo" of the title. As Midori keeps reminding us, mambo is not a hobby but a way of life—almost a calling. Clearly drawn from an intimate personal knowledge of the scene (Chao has a second career as a professional mambo dancer), the book delves deeply into the intricacies of the dance as it sketches the backgrounds of Midori, El Tuerto and Wendy Cardoza, a brilliant "mambera" who befriends Midori. It all seems like a sexy Latin version of Saturday Night Fever —a voyeuristic glimpse into an unfamiliar world—until Midori, visiting her cousin in Miami, gets peripherally involved in a plot to assassinate Fidel Castro, a far more engaging drama that's never convincingly connected to the allegedly dangerous mambo. There's no doubt Chao the dancer feels right at home in the world of her book, but her theme—the rediscovery of her character's Cuban roots—is lost amid the tangles of convoluted plot. Agent, Heather Schroder at ICM. (May 10)