Under the Wire

Seventeen years ago Contra soldier Manolo (Manny) Ortega met and fell in love with Doctors Without Borders nurse Lily Campora. Though only sixteen, he was a man, fighting a man’s war, his goal to save his country. On a warm and sultry night, in the after glow of that special time between a man and his woman, Manny is rudely awoken by Sandinistas telling him Lily has betrayed him to the hated General Poveda. Stunned and heartbroken, Manny fights for his life and escapes into the jungle. Through the intervention of a CIA officer, he soon finds himself in the United States Special Forces. A broken promise to a boy who began a man too young. Her betrayal a scar that will never heal.

Seventeen years later in the aftermath of a gang fight, Detective Manny Ortega again encounters Lily. The long held hatred for the woman who betrayed him comes to the fore and he leaves her presence as quickly as he can. But Manny quickly learns he must confront his demon when Lily arrives on his doorstep asking for help to free her son from the Tigers of Sri Lanka. Her smile words of “I hope his father will” help her rescue her son opens up a wound beyond any Manny could ever have imagined…because Lily’s son is his son.

Readers met, and this reviewer fell in love with, Manny in OVER THE LINE, book 4 of Cindy Gerard’s Body Guard series. As with each book of the series, UNDER THE WIRE is a stand-alone read. With just the right amount of reference to characters readers previously met to tie in the other books yet not feel left out Ms. Gerard again shows the breath of what seems to be her ever growing talent. Each of the books shows a different story telling strength from the flashbacks of straight told suspense of TO THE EDGE to the film like flashbacks of OVER THE LINE. Each book tells its story from a unique and enthralling perspective.

UNDER THE WIRE transports readers from the jungles of Nicaragua to the mean streets of Boston to Sri Lanka as Manny and Lily’s lives become entwined, unravel and entangle once again. Manny’s need to trust Lily to save their son, yet fighting the demons he believes she created show a vulnerable man readers will ache to heal.

Ms. Gerard creates memorable characters that are three-dimensional. These could be the men and women up the street. The bleed, they laugh, they cry, they bond like the people in our every day lives. While their adventures may not be the “norm” for the average reader, they hold an every day realism that dispels illusions while telling a compelling story. While brother Nolan and sister Eve are mentioned only in passing, Dallas and Ethan continue with parts of their stories from OVER THE LINE.

Ms. Gerard paints a vivid picture of each locale in her stories, and UNDER THE WIRE is no different. The reader will feel the muggy heat of the jungle, smell the hospital smells of the Boston hospital and taste the dusty roads of Sri Lanka. Underneath it all Ms. Gerard tells a love story readers will not quickly forget.

UNDER THE WIRE is a do not miss and left this reviewer more anxious than ever to read Dallas’ story in INTO THE DARKNESS. Ms. Gerard does not disappoint.

January 2007