I read the first three chapters of The Noble Pirates and let’s just say chapter 3 left me wanting more, as the book contrasts the lightheartedness of a typical tropical vacation with voodoo and black magic that honestly gave me the creeps.  In other words, it has thus far achieved its objectives.

Three best friends since college, Sabrina, Tanya and Sky, get away from their jobs and their kids for a week-long excursion in the Caribbean.  Although the story starts out a bit slowly, the real action kicks-off in Chapter 3, but even the mundane parts of the story are amusing because of the excellent dialogue and authentic characters.  The first two chapters actually serve well to set a tone of normality before springing the bizarre on the reader.

The author is able to adeptly put the reader smack into the middle of the mind of its main character, a neurotic thirty-something professional woman named Sabrina, who is addicted to her job and her “crackberry”.  The novel is packed full of fun pop-culture references and sayings, and the dialogue between the characters is fun and realistic.  Even the most desultory topics are enlivened with sarcastic chattiness that grabs one’s attention.

Tanya is the polar opposite of the compulsive workaholic Sabrina.  Tanya’s an obnoxious materialistic slacker, party girl that reminds me of a sorority chick that never let go of the college lifestyle – or mindset.  The tan-obsessed Tanya, sporting fake breasts, gets inebriated in short-order, mocking the work-obsessed Sabrina and even exclaims in the middle of a casino that Sabrina needs to get laid.  Sky is the peacemaker of the group, the tranquil voice of reason who has played the referee between the two girls since college.  But the seemingly innocent and routine lives of these woman are abruptly interrupted in the next chapter.

In Chapter 3 is where the real fun begins when Sabrina runs into an eerie woman named Miryam Dieujuste in the girl’s room who speaks in an exotic tongue and somehow mysteriously knows Sabrina’s name, claiming to have worked for Sabrina’s grandfather.  The woman alleges that Sabrina has upset her “loua” or spirit.  It triggers deep-seated memories from her childhood trips to Haiti, and Sabrina believes the black woman is speaking voodoo mambo.  Finally, the woman leaves her with a admonition that sent a chill down my spine:  ““I have seen you many times in my mind. Pitit, something big is about to happen to you. Souple! Tende mwen! Listen to me.”

How does a Voodoo priestess, with a young immaculate face yet hands that appear decrepit and eighty years old, know Sabrina?  And what does this priestess mean by such a warning?  (That’s what I aim to find out after work, when my boss isn’t constantly interrupting me.  I’d like to practice some voodoo on him.)

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