Shango

the long version

Miguel is Cuban American, with the accent on American. But beneath the surface of his sun-drenched Miami lifestyle lurks an evil that threatens to destroy him. The chance reading of a newspaper article reporting a stolen skull and the ritualistic murder of a petty drug dealer pitches Miguel into an underworld where his cultural roots grab him like tentacles. His newly kindled compulsion to learn more about his culture brings him pleasure in the sensuous beauty of Ileana and pain in the enticing danger of voodoo. Thrust into a tailspin world dominated by santeria, the Afro-Caribbean religion of his native island, Miguel and Ileana must find their way among mysterious cult initiations, drum ceremonies to invoke African deities and, ultimately, a hair-raising confrontation with the terrible god Shango. Chock full of fascinating characters, from the absent-minded professor to the tough but sentimental detective, from the inept thugs Hernan and Dago to the malevolent Rosa, and with the added intrigue of Afro-Caribbean religious rituals, Shango is spellbinding and engrossing.