Spoilers! The Spider Thief Chapters 5 -8

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What this is about: here 

We meet Cleo, Ash's childhood friend. She's a gun-toting investigator of some sort, looking for Andres. She and Ash get caught up in another clash with Andres's men on the highway. We next meet Mauricio, Ash's half-brother, and we learn the last time he saw Ash was when Ash met with Andres to setup a deal: the Spider for one million dollars. There's a third party involved, a guy named Prez, whose motives are yet to be revealed.

Now things are tying together, though I still don't know why a whole two weeks are missing from Ash's memory, but it probably isn't significant. Once again, the chase scenes are the highlight. When it comes to muscle cars and car chase scenes the author sure knows how to choreograph around the machine's strengths and weaknesses.

Ash's got more personality, now that he's interacting with friends. He likes to joke but they don't seem to think he's terribly funny. Clearly, among the three friends, he's the unserious risk-taker. I still would like to see more from his POV.

I like what we've seen of the brothers' relationship. It seems to be a caring and daring one, but Ash, according to his brother, is never around for very long. A tragic past has something to do with that, the Spider and its 'curse', a house fire, and death. Oddly, I can't tell who's older.

And now for a sidebar.

The POV switches are how we learn Ash is white. It wouldn't be notable if not for the categorical ethnicities of the rest of the cast. Mauricio's mother is Colombian. Andres and his gang are Latino. Prez and his gang are black. No idea what ethnicity Cleo is, though her hair curls in the rain from its previous "straight" and "professional" state. There's nothing unusual about these choices (the gangs members seem typical, the hero is white, the love interest is ethnically ambiguous ), just that they are not left up to the imagination, which takes a conscious effort many authors shy away from. That's not insignificant.

Anyhow, I'm intrigued and looking forward to where this goes next. Spoilery discussion is welcome in the comments, if you've read The Spider Thief, are reading along, or are just curious.