A bumbling backpacker. An exotic South American street dancer. When their travels lead them into the hands of the Colombian underworld, he has one last chance to get something right and save their lives.
Confronted with their imminent murder he delves into his deepest memories searching for any clue that might provide a means of survival. Should he follow his logical mind or his gut instinct? He … logical mind or his gut instinct? He has three seconds left to decide.
★★★★★ Travel & Razor’s Edge Suspense – Don’t Miss This!
Excellently written story mixing travel & suspense. A “don’t miss” with a great twist. Highly recommend!
★★★★★ Gripping, a Must Have.
Once you pick this up you won’t put it down. Both gripping enthralling this book has you captivated from the first line. A must-have for anyone travelling to South America as well as those who just simply enjoy a well-told story of life’s less predictable events.
★★★★★ Charming. gripping and thoughtful.
This is very enjoyable writing. This true travel account has an interesting structure, humour, pathos and a thrilling tense conclusion.
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Disguised as a travel memoire “3 Seconds in Bogotá” explores the path that one’s live takes to bring us to a given second… or three. The actual event, which makes for a funny if haunting tale in a friends-gathering, could be easily explained in a page length. But the actual 3 seconds are not the core of the tale, but much more the natural consequence of the course of action of a series of decisions taken along the way.
Mark Playne successfully weaves biographical events into a very entertaining adventure, gripping and haunting at times, eerily and whimsical at others, unexpected and somehow still not surprising, as every step taken along the way inevitably leads to the next.
The story is easy to read, a real fast-paced page-turner that keeps the reader on the end of the seat, wishing to reach the final conclusion and finally understand how all paths lead the main character to his actual predicament and of course and rooting for him to come out as unscathed as possible.
Mark Playne is a gifted storyteller, with the scare gift to weave seemingly unrelated (and underrated!) everyday occurrences into a very easy to read and entertaining narrative. A must read for any reader who is looking for an original take on travel literature and as well as everyone who enjoys a very good tale
3 Seconds in Bogotá – a review by Rosemary Kenny
This ‘Quentin Tarantino does Rough Guide to Colombia’ may ostensibly only last 3 Seconds, but they’re not at all your usual time period, rather what one would expect inside Dr Who’s TARDIS – much bigger and more exciting on the inside!
Told as almost an aide-memoire/journal, by the male protagonist, a backpacker-cum-itinerant-silversmith, with frequent fascinating flashbacks, narrating his and his beautiful – but deadly-tongued if necessary – feisty Latina street-dancer girlfriend’s back story, from their first meeting and journeys en route to an amazingly stunning (and totally unexpected by me) conclusion in the eponymous city of Bogotá, 3 Seconds in Bogotá: A Colombian Kidnapping (Wild Worldwide Travel), by the brilliant Mark Playne, will definitely blow your mind.
Whether you absorb it completely on all its many levels – social commentary, morality take, modern classic, urban fantasy, based on what could be a true story etc – and which should definitely be made into an action movie, (with someone like Chris Hemsworth, Johnny Depp or Keanu Reeves as the MC/narrator and maybe Pénélope Cruz, or Anne Hathaway as the love interest), or just as a thought-provoking fiction, there’s something within for absolutely everyone.
I cannot recommend this wonderful novel, Mark Playne’s 3 Seconds in Bogotá, highly enough, as it is so well-written, (not relying on foul language or graphic violence/sex scenes) and fast-pacedly engaging, that I couldn’t put it down for one single second, let alone three.
Ve rapidò to get your copy today and tell all your friends (and your local library) to make this 5-star winner rocket up the book charts to the top – exactly where it should be – vàmonos amigos!
The longest 3 seconds (or half an hour) story. Unbelievably great despite that.
The story starts with a couple of travelers being attacked during a taxi ride to their hotel at night in Bogotá. During the 3 seconds the protagonist has to decide what to do, we follow his thoughts as he reflects in all his travels and adventures and experiences that led them to that moment.
Though sometimes it could be a little surreal (like traveling back and forward across the Pacific just to go south of South America, when they clame to be poor), there a a lot of funny and curious stories that I’m sure you will enjoy read. It’s like going traveling and meeting people without living your couch. If you are like me you will get antsy in the end. I particularly liked the language translations oddities. They always provide great stories. 🙂
The story ends up with a quite surprising twist. I would like just one more chapter, because my freaked out mind at the end cannot stop expecting there to be a catch we are left wandering. I hope I spiked your curiosity.
I thought this was a great short story. I enjoyed reading it and it is based on the author’s life. I received an ARC from the author and this is my voluntary review.
This is a very different type of thriller, with excellent descriptive writing and a quite unique way of telling a story. The locations, in and around Bogota are very evocatively described, and the tension is ratcheted up throughout the story.
However for me I found the way that the story was told, with repeated flashbacks, rather disjointed and spoiled the reading flow. This is why I have rated it at 4 stars rather than 5, but it doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy it, or that it isn’t a good piece of writing, but it just didn’t completely suit me.
I received an advance copy of the book, but have voluntarily written this honest review.