Ysa should have known better. She shouldn't have believed Kit. Shouldn't have gone up the Amazon with the Gumball King. Should haven't let a Mundurucu take up her up a river in a canoe. Shouldn't have ventured alone into mining camp. Kit should have known better. He shouldn't have taken women into Amazonia. Shouldn't have taken a hippie-chick and 20,000 porpoises up in an airplane. Shouldn't have played bridge with an underground lumberjack. Definitely shouldn't have trusted his foster brother, the Gumball King. Soong Tan should have known better, too. She shouldn't have trusted grown-ups. Shouldn't have tempted the kilo-rats or played in the Village of Death. Shouldn't have shot a poisoned arrow at Kit. Shouldn't have started a war. Passion isn't proper in an improper place, and deepest, darkest Amazonia is anything but proper. It's no place for a nice little family to end up in coffins- one large, one medium, one small. This sleazy adventure romance is really a book about the problems and conflicts in the Amazon region today. On the surface, it's a wild and entertaining ride, but if you look a little deeper, it's dead serious.