Picture this. You have just had a fight with your wife. She is going to leave you. With her, she will take your son. You are a businessman. The amount of travel is copious. When you leave on a business trip from New York across the Atlantic you plane crashes an abandon airport in the Congo Basin. The fact that it is a French flight and nobody speaks English on the plane except the business man next to you makes this situation even more troubling. People are in tears all around you. The pilots call the militia in the area. The next day you wake up in a hot steamy first class seat with African militia manning the doors. The flight attendants say you cannot leave because it is not safe. This is Lewis’s situation. He was just going on a business trip to advertise Coke in Africa and Europe. While his plane sits amongst a rain forest, he must sit in angst.

This book leaves a regular American stranded in an alien world. Annoyed by the fact that he can’t leave. The author puts a mood of loneliness in the plane. There are few people to translate French to English. I think I would feel out of place. The Marcus portrays that theme very well. While you are reading the book you almost feel sympathy for Lewis. His lack of knowledge of his location and the fact that his son is expecting him home soon makes a mood that he is longing for his home and family.

This is also hard for the wife, Helen. She is still shaken up from their fight. When she hears news that her husband’s flight has gone missing, she longs for more information. She takes care of their son, Shane, at home. Shane is described as a very young boy who is energetic and very much loves being in snow. The wife gets a voice mail on her phone one night, from Lewis. She casually deletes it as soon as she knows its him. It makes you think she is mad and doesn’t want to deal with him anymore.

Eventually, Lewis leaves the plane and goes to live on his own. This shows a sense of courage that had never come out before in the character. That is another good thing about the book; the characters are very well rounded and have so many sides. When Lewis leaves the plane he starts his trek into the forest. As you could probably imagine a businessman in a rainforest trying to survive might not work out very well. He pushes himself and well, the rest is for you to read

His wife is still in New York taking care of her sick mother. She is worried sick about Lewis and is destined to go to Africa and find him. Helen doesn’t want to leave her son behind so he comes along. This brings a more romantic theme into the book. He thinks she is going to leave him but she took her son to Africa to go and find him.

This book also portrays a mood of mystery in some places. When Lewis wonders what the militia is going to do or when his wife and son are searching for him. The mood changes and makes you want to see what happens next. From shock to adventure, this book pulls you in.

I’ve tried my hardest not to give any spoilers. This book was very interesting and it pulled me in right from the start. From cover to cover new clues were revealed, new ideas were started, and new relationships formed. The characters have so many layers of deep emotions that come out in different places throughout their journeys. The Curve of the Wind is a great novel and I suggest it to anybody who likes adventure, romance, and mystery.