Anyhoo, I'll start with what I appreciated the most about Loose Ties. Even though it's translated from Portuguese, many words and phrases from indigenous languages were retained. That's the kind of stuff I live for.
Also, the descriptions of Luanda are very well captured and you can see, taste, and hear the city. Good stuff.
That aside, I'm a little bummed that the only memorable bit is that it's set in Angola, the character development was weak, it's a plot based novel but even the plot wasn't plotting, too many holes. The writing style was kinda weird too, it was like a mix of commercial and literary but maybe stuff got lost in translation. It's easy to read but there's really nothing to hold your attention.