Three women pass through Lucca Di Vercelli's world. There's Silvana, a beautiful cocaine addict and mother of his daughter. Before her there was Isabelle, the love he lost to tragedy. And there was Liora, Lucca's enduring obsession.
As Silvana demands a divorce, Lucca thinks back on his past, an ephemeral tapestry of personal decisions overlaid with luck, random events, and chance encounters.
Trained by US National Clandestine Services in the depths of the Costa Rican jungle, Lucca's career as a paramilitary operations officer comes to a halt when his unit's funding is canceled. Switching to the shadowy world of for-hire black ops, he finds himself working for an Israeli weapons contractor while moonlighting for a Colombian money-laundering operation.
Liora enters his life through his black ops contacts, although their differing views on religion sabotage their relationship. He meets Isabelle while in hiding, an encounter that forces Lucca to reconsider his path in life. He loves them both, but it's tempestuous atheist Silvana he marries.
Thoughtful and provocative, Luis Bertelsmann's examination of how chance and religion affect life is a celebration of one simple truth: no one is fully in control of their destiny, nor should they be.
About the Author: Luis Bertelsmann was born in Costa Rica in 1972. His father was a former Belgian Congo mercenary and his mother a brave missionary in West Africa.
Bertelsmann is a study in contrasts-an adrenaline-fueled adventurer with a degree in business and an MS in communications. He has visited more than fifty countries and speaks Spanish, English, and Portuguese fluently.
Divorced with an eight-year-old daughter, Bertelsmann lives in Costa Rica. He's agnostic, antiracist, pro-gay, and an enemy of savage capitalism and organized religion. Now pursuing a writing career, he works as an interpreter and translator for a US firm.
