"Cry No More" by Linda Howard

 

 5 shiny stars

I just want to start off by saying that this was probably the most difficult review I've written to date.
Even though my friends on GR 'warned' me that this would be a tear-jerker, nothing, and I mean NOTHING prepared me for actually reading, and experiencing what happened at the end of the story.

KUDOS to Ms. Howard's storytelling!
THE BEFORE

1993 Mexico

In the beginning of the story, We're introduced to Milla and David Boone. David is a surgeon working for a year in Mexico offering a free clinic. Milla's found out she was pregnant just before David was set out to leave, but after meeting with the teams OB-GYN, Milla she feels secure in having her baby in Mexico with David.

Milla and David's baby is now 6 weeks old, and they're looking forward to finishing up in Mexico and moving back to the States.
One morning while Milla is at the market getting a few groceries, two men corner her. One of the men cuts the sling that holds her baby Justin to her front and frantically she leans forward to prevent her baby from falling, only to realize that her son has been snatched out of her arms. Milla viciously fights the man clawing at his face, until he loosens his hold on her son. Just when she thinks she's able to get Justin, she feels a searing, paralyzing pain in her back and she drops like a rock to the market floor. When she finally looks up she sees the man running away carrying her son like a football under his arm, She calls out for someone.. anyone "Someone get my baby"... but no one helps her.


THE AFTER

10 years later.. El Paso, New Mexico

Milla is now 33 years old, and here's the countdown of her last 10 year..

10 years ago, Justin was stolen from her, and she barely survived the stabbing to her kidney.
9 years ago, David divorced her. She didn't blame him. David hadn’t just lost his son, he’d also lost his wife. From the time she’d regained consciousness after being stabbed, her every thought, her life, had focused on finding Justin. There simply hadn’t been anything left in her for David.
8 years ago, following another lead to find Justin, Milla recovered a stolen baby, and was able to return the infant to an hysterical mother. She didn't have any closure with her own son's disappearance, but somehow she was able to offer it to some other mother.
7 years ago, she organized Finders, a group of people set out to mobilize and hunt missing or stolen children.
6 years ago, David remarried.
5 years ago, Finders received their first missing persons case. They didn't just search for missing children, but adults as well.
4 years ago, David and his new wife had their first child, a daughter.
3 years ago, Milla's brother told her to get on with her life, and forget about her son. She hasn't spoken to him since.
2 years ago, Milla heard the name Diaz for the first time, and the possibility of him being involved in Justin's disappearance. David and his wife had their second child, a boy. That night Milla cried herself to sleep.
Tonight.. tonight following a anonymous tip telling her Diaz would be at a meeting behind a church in Mexico, she saw the man who tore her son out of her arms.
She would never forget his face, but also she left her mark on him, because now he only had one eye.

Milla puts word out that she' looking for Diaz. She asks her friend and a sponsor of Finder's, True Galligar to find any information on Diaz. She soon discovers that Diaz is not the person who has stolen her son, but that he is an assassin, and if the money's right, he can find anyone.

After a rather scary first meeting with Diaz, Milla convinces Diaz to help her find her son. At first Milla is wary to be around Diaz, because he moves like a panther, has a 'cold' look in his eyes (like he's a sociopath), and screams 'predator' whenever you look at him. But, after awhile, Milla soon realizes that Diaz is only cold, and cruel to those who deserve it, and she knows in her heart that he would never hurt her. Milla soon starts to become attracted to Diaz. She's never had this type of attraction to anybody else in her life before... and it scares her because she knows this man can be brutally dangerous.

As a reader I really did not like Diaz'z character, but as the story progresses, and the more I 'get to know him'...I soon fall in love with him. He is guarded, and only opens himself up to people who he trusts, and that seems to be only Milla.

As the story builds, so does the bond between Diaz and Milla.
They soon realize, by putting pieces together from information they've discovered, that for last 10 years Milla has been fed misinformation to keep her off track from finding her son.
There is a huge conspiracy going on, with deceit, and absolute betrayal from people Milla thought were her friends and people she loved.

This is were the story gets really exciting, and without giving too much away, I gotta say that I DID NOT expect the ending this story had.

Milla's journey was so well written, and her heart breaking 'obsession' to find her son..even after so many years, after everyone else gave up was so touching and believable.

When Milla finally finds out the truth, and what happened to Justin ...
the best way I could describe how I felt for her is:




THE PRESENT

... and then there's the Epilogue. All I can say is MY GOD!!!

It is how it should be because, she deserves nothing else!





One of the best stories I've read to date, and definitely one I'll be re-reading!

Review of "All the Queen's Men" by Linda Howard

1994 Iran

An American covert 5 person team is in place to blow up a manufacturing facility that was developing and supplying Anthrax. The team was made up of Sayyed (a native Iranian who was now an American citizen, a tough, wiry man in his late forties), Hadi Santana who was of Arabic and Mexican heritage, but an American. Husband and wife - Dallas & Niema Burcock (Dallas as former SEAL and contractor for the CIA, and Niema an electronics specialist), and their leader Darren Tucker.
Sayyed, Hadi, and Dallas are set to go in, set explosives, destroy the facility and get out. Tucker and Niema are to stay behind, monitor the mission, destroy all the electronic devices, and later rendez-vous with the rest of the team.
The team runs into trouble and all hell brakes loose. The team is ambushed, and while Niema is listening, Tucker orders Dallas to activate the detonators while he's still inside the facility.
Niema then shuts down, her last memory is of her husband making Tucker promise to look after Niema for him.




Tucker then proceeds to get Niema out of Iran. Niema is only eating when Tucker gives her food, she isn't talking or sleeping.

There comes a point where Tucker decides she has to sleep because she's gone days without, so her lies down behind her tells her stories both true in fictional in order for her to relax enough to sleep.

This description of a solar eclipse was so well written, I had to include it in my review.

"I saw a solar eclipse once. I was in South America." He didn't get any more specific than that. "The weather was so hot the air felt sticky. Cold showers didn't do any good; I was sweaty again as soon as I got toweled off. Everyone wore as little clothing as possible." He didn't know if she was listening; he didn't much care. He kept that soothing, gently monotonous tone, his voice just barely above a whisper. If he could bore her to sleep, so much the better. "It had been on the radio that there would be a solar eclipse that day, but the heat was so miserable no one much cared. It was just a little village, not the type to attract any eclipse chasers. I had forgotten about it myself. It was a sunny day, so bright the light hurt my eyes, and I was wearing sunglasses. The eclipse slipped up on me. The sun was still shining, the sky was blue, but all of a sudden it was as if a cloud had passed over the sun. The birds all stopped singing, and the village pets hid. "One of the villagers looked up and said, 'Look at the sun,' and I remembered about the eclipse. I told them not to stare, that it would blind them if they looked too long. The light was eerie, if you can imagine dark sunshine. The sky turned a really deep shade of blue, and the temperature dropped at least twenty degrees. It kept getting darker and darker, but the sky was still blue. Finally the sun was completely covered, and the solar halo around the moon was . . . spectacular. On the ground we were in a strange, deep twilight, and everything was quiet, but overhead the sky glowed. The twilight lasted for a couple of minutes, and during that time the entire village stood still. Men, women, and children; none of them moved, or spoke. "Then the light began to come back, and the birds started singing again. The chickens came off roost, and the dogs barked. The moon moved on, and it was as hot as it had been before, but no one bitched about the weather anymore."



Niema breathing finally starts to slow, and her body isn't as stiff as it was. Tucker then starts telling her more stories until Niema finally drifts off to sleep. Niema wakes up spooning Tucker thinking it is her husband, it is then it finally hits her that Dallas is dead, and the flood-gates are opened, the wall she has put up has cracked, and she now begins to mourns the death of her husband while being held and comforted by Tucker.

...5 years later

After the death of her husband Niema has decided the wild-adventurous side of her is what inevitability got her husband killed because she is the one that wanted to take the mission, not him. She never re-married. She dates, though not often. She has a comfortable-safe desk job with the CIA. "She's busy. She likes her work, she's very well paid, she has a nice home, drives a new car". But, unknown to her is that Tucker (who is really CIA field operative John Medina) has kept his eye on her from a distance, making sure she's okay because he wants her for himself.

When a new explosive is used to take down a plane, Tucker/John is given the mission of tracking down this new explosive, and He asks Niema to go in on the operation with him. When Niema sees Tucker for the first time in 5 years, Tucker introduces himself with his 'real' name, his identity that only a select few have knowledge of which now includes her...and for 5 years John has thought that Niema blamed him for her husbands death, because he was the one that gave the order to kill himself to get the mission done. Niema never did blame him, because she knew her husband would do anything for the mission to be successful.

Niema is hesitant to be back in the field, but apart of her (the part that she's buried for 5 years) wants to take this job. She finally agrees to take this 'one' mission (to get it out of her system) and begins training with John so that she will be prepared for their job.
While training with John, Niema becomes attracted to him, but John is so good at 'acting' she can't read whether he feels the same way as her because with John he shows nothing.
They're mission is to go to France, make contact with an arms dealer by the name of Louis Ronsard. Niema is to get herself invited to his Villa, where she will meet up with John and she will plant a bugging device, and he will access and steal all information concerning the explosive.

This where the story really gets good!



The chemistry between Niema and John is explosive!
Part of their cover is that John is to be introduced to Niema at Ronsard's party, at his Villa, and become immediately enamored with her. When they first kiss (as apart of their cover) the kiss soon becomes out of control because they both have been keeping their true feelings for each other under such control that now they've reached their breaking point.



Niema steps back shocked by her response to him, but also very wary, because even though physically John's response to her is passionate, in his eyes, He looks as though he's just doing his job (little does she know that he's losing his control with her as well, he's just better at hiding it).

My favorite part of the book however, is when Niema and John are in Ronsard's office completing their mission, and they see Ronsard heading towards the office on the security monitor, and they have to act fast... and I'll leave it at that, because I don't want to spoil it for anybody.

lets just say,



Reading this story is like reading a book from Robert Ludlum's "Bourne" series.

The storytelling is fantastic! The writing, and characters are wonderful!... and getting to finally see John and Niema lose control and let their passion take over was so worth the fun & excitement!




It's was so easy to get lost in this wonderful world of spies, espionage, intrigue, and of course a kick-ass romance!


Can't wait to read the next, and final book in this series!!