"Compelling Romantic Suspense"

Not only is Linda Howard's latest novel filled with suspense and sizzling attraction, but the thematic element of emotional anguish throughout this read gives this novel a multidimensional quality. Milla Boone's life is almost perfect at the novel's onset, as she adores both her physician husband David and their six-week old son Justin. But a trip to the marketplace in Mexico where they are living ends in disaster when Justin is stolen from her arms, and she is stabbed in the kidney.

Fast-forward ten years when Milla has founded Finders, an El Paso organization dedicated to helping locate missing persons. Because of Milla's single-minded determination to find Justin, her marriage ended in divorce just a year after her son's disappearance. Milla's sorrow at the loss of her son is a palpable thing, ever present in her life, only somewhat dimmed when she is able to locate another missing child.

When an anonymous tip mentions Diaz, Milla travels to Mexico, believing that he may be the man who stole her child. Through her encounters with Diaz, Milla learns that he had nothing to do with Justin's disappearance but is a paid assassin, working for both the Mexican and U.S. governments, and he has agreed to help her find the men responsible for Justin's kidnapping. An unlikely connection between two lost souls blossoms into an attraction that neither Milla nor Diaz can deny.

While the careful reader will soon discover the likely suspects in Justin's disappearance, the continued suspense, coupled with the mystery surrounding Diaz, gives this novel a cloak and dagger effect. And the heartfelt anguish that surrounds Milla in her search for Justin gives rise to the compelling conclusion in this read, most likely Ms. Howard's best effort to date.

Reviewed by Sheri Melnick
Posted November 19, 2003

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Summary

Count your blessings; they can be snatched away in an instant. It is a sentiment Milla Edge knows too well. With an astonishing blend of savvy, instinct, and passion, Milla displays an uncanny gift for finding lost children. When all seems helpless, desperate souls from across the country come to her for hope and results. Driven by an obsessive desire to fill the void in other people's lives, Milla throws herself into every case—all the while trying to outrun the brutal emotions stemming from a horrific tragedy in her past.

Traveling to a small village in Mexico on a reliable tip, Milla begins to uncover the dire fate of countless children who have disappeared over the years in the labyrinth of a sinister baby-smuggling ring. The key to nailing down the organization may rest with an elusive one- eyed man. To find him, Milla joins forces with James Diaz, a suspicious stranger known as the Tracker who conceals his own sinister agenda.

As the search intensifies, the mission becomes more treacherous. For the ring is part of something far larger and more dangerous, reaching the highest echelons of power and influence. Caught between growing passion and imminent peril, Milla suddenly finds herself the hunted—in the crosshairs of an invisible, lethal assassin who aims to silence her permanently.