cover image Sanctuary

Sanctuary

Joseph P. Desario. Doubleday Books, $19.95 (437pp) ISBN 978-0-385-24487-9

This new thriller by De Sario ( Limbo ) shows a sure knowledge of Guatemala and its history; the Sanctuary movement run by American religious groups; the inner workings of scandal sheets; the lower rungs of baseball scouting; and the distinctly unglamorous lives passed in inland California--but combines these disparate elements in a topsy-turvy plot that resists straightforward summary and wears a reader's patience thin. In essence, De Sario tells the story of a ``yellow journalist,'' Matt Teller, who discovers a dead body and, he hopes, a hot story in the California desert, but is hard-pressed to fulfill his dreams of glory when interference presents itself in the form of priests (bringing peasants into the U.S. illegally), an alcoholic big-leaguer (now scouting in Guatemala), homicidal Guatemalan intelligence officials (invading U.S. territory in pursuit of popular rebel leaders) and many, many others. The author's large cast of characters vies for our attention in violent scenes piled on so gratuitously that a reader quickly becomes jaded. (July)