cover image Angel Falls

Angel Falls

Paul Guernsey. Simon & Schuster, $19.45 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-671-67598-1

Young Jimmy Angel tries his hand at reporting for a wire service in Caracas, but survival becomes more important than journalism in Guernsey's ( Unhallowed Ground ) fine second novel. Underpaid and exhausted from covering his mostly absent boss's beat as well as his own, Jimmy resolves to save up for a ticket home. In the meantime, he falls in with a street urchin and Orchid, a pretty homeless woman, among other vividly drawn people. He is also befriended by a pair of drug-taking-party-goers who press him to help them out as translators for a touring American rock star. Wondering why people with money and virtually no knowledge of English want the job, but needing the money himself, Jimmy agrees. He is also busy fending off the authorities, who want to know why he takes messages for a terrorist group. The surprising answer arrives after the star is kidnapped and Jimmy determines on a rescue attempt. As his journey of self-knowledge turns deadly, Jimmy learns the hardest of the many lessons put before him. Through it all, he maintains his winning humanity, and his story is both memorable and extremely satisfying. (Apr.)