 |
This is not your average cloak and dagger thriller. While there's plenty of cloak and a good bit of dagger, the thrills within these pages are found as often in internal angst as they are in external derring-do. Mental scars and psychological savagery cause as much pain in this suspenseful story as knife wounds and bullet holes.
Norma is a senior agent in a covert operations group within the U. S. Government. Recruited from the Army at age 18, she put in her time and then left to marry a man and raise a son. But at age 39, she has recently rejoined the group under somewhat ambiguous circumstances. Her return is made infinitely more difficult when it's preceded by the murder of her father, the discovery of information relating to her abusive upbringing, and the suspicion by the local sheriff that Norma is the number one suspect. Before this novel's pages have run their course, one mystery will be solved, a trial by fire will be initiated, and revelations will change the future as well as the past.
Stylishly written, though now and then at the expense of immediate comprehension, this is an engaging read that pushes the envelope of the thriller genre. Author Lujan has chosen to steep her tale in an intensely introspective tone. Burrowing deeply within the psyche and soul of her protagonist, she paints a harrowing picture of how one individual musters up the fortitude to go from victim to survivor to ruler of her own fate—but not without the toll the harshest of life's injuries often inflict.