One Way or Another: A Novel

I just finished One Way or Another by Elizabeth Adler. Angela (goes by Angie) Morse got involved with the wrong guy and is now floating in the middle of the ocean off the coast of Turkey. Marco Polo Mahoney is a portrait artist (prefers to call himself a painter) who is vacationing in Fethiye, Turkey (has a little ramshackle cottage/shack) with his dog, Em (Em goes everywhere with Marco). Marco is looking out at the ocean when he sees a girl stumbling on a yacht (The Lady Marina). He gets his binoculars and sees the girl with a very bloody, open gash on her head (can see skull). The girl then drops in the ocean and the boat speeds away. Marco rushes out to rescue her, but he cannot find her. Marco reports it to the police who do not believe him. Poor Angie does not drown. She is rescued by Apollo Zacharias, the captain of the Zeus. Unfortunately for Angie, Zacharias calls it in on the radio and guess who answers the distress call—The Lady Marina! Once again Angie is back in her killers clutches. Marco calls his girlfriend, Martha Patron about the incident. She does not really believe him either (thinks he saw something). Marco keeps looking. He comes upon a clue when he sees a local bar owner’s wife with a gold necklace. It was Angie’s necklace. Marco knows something happened to the girl (he calls her the girl with the beautiful red hair) and is determined to find out what happened to her. Ahmet Ghulbian is a billionaire and the owner of The Lady Marina. He is controlling, mean, and a cold blooded killer. His assistant, Mehitabel (only one name) is cold, vicious, and a killer. They are well suited. Ahmet was born poor, but he made something of himself (thanks to the help of a woman that he killed). Since Angie did not drown, Ahmet decides to hold her captive. He plans to have some more fun with her before killing her. Ahmet meets Lucy Patron, Martha’s younger sister (and a real flibbertigibbet). He decides that she is the person he wants to marry. She is seventeen and a virgin (Lucy has decided to be an actress). He slowly draws her in along with Martha (whom he gets to redecorate his creepy house in the marshes) and Marco (whom he commissions to paint his portrait). Will Marco be able to find Angie and rescue her? Will Ahmet get Lucy? One Way or Another sounded like a great mystery/thriller. The book, though, dragged on and on and on. I did not think it would ever end (and I really wanted it to end). It took me two tries to get through the whole book. Instead of being a thrilling page turner, it puts you to sleep. This book needed severe editing and rewriting. It had some good bones (the basic idea), but the final product was severely lacking. I give One Way or Another 1.5 out of 5 stars (because the basic premise was decent). The writing is lackluster and the book contains a lot of unnecessary descriptive paragraphs. I received a complimentary copy of One Way or Another from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The review and opinions expressed are my own.