• Lonesome Point. Ian Vasquez. Minotaur. 263 pages. $24.95.

Ian Vasquez examines the common themes of sibling rivalry and family secrets to deliver a thoughtful look at unbridled ambition and failed dreams. While Vasquez's debut In the Heat used the tenets of the private detective novel, Lonesome Point firmly proves his affinity for a gripping noir tale. Heat was a good debut, but Lonesome Point succeeds on an even higher level.

Leo Varela had ambition when he left his native Belize for college, but now, the 50-year-old is realizing that his ''go-slow attitude in most things'' has left him a failed poet stuck in a dead-end job in a Miami hospital's psych ward. With a pregnant girlfriend, his life needs to change.

His brother Patrick allowed his ambition to control every move as he became a Miami-Dade County commissioner. With a smart wife and an in with Miami's movers and shakers, Patrick will do anything to keep his position.

The brothers' lives are upended when an acquaintance from Belize asks Leo to kidnap a patient from the mental health ward. If Leo doesn't help, the old friend will expose the brothers' violent background that erupted at Lonesome Point, a remote area of Belize.

Vasquez, a former Miami Herald copy editor who lives in St. Petersburg, effectively showcases his native Belize in flashback scenes, while also providing a view of Miami's dark alleys. He quickly gets to the heart of each brother, showing the emotional resolve and moral center that each man has or lacks. Lonesome Point could have been an updated Cain and Abel story but instead, Vasquez's storytelling skills will remind readers of early Elmore Leonard, especially with the book's surprise denouement.

Oline Cogdill reviewed this book for The Sun Sentinel.

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