by R. M. Koster
First published 2001
Carlos Fuertes stares at his reflection and sees death looking back. The son of a murdered Latin American president, he once found purpose leading solo missions north of the DMZ in Vietnam. Now he operates from Tijuana, snatching children for bitter divorce cases. His nerve has shattered. Hallucinations torment him. Then a voice from his past calls with an offer: join a team to abduct a fugitive American financier hiding in Central America. Carlos recognizes this as his test, his path back from the living dead. Real danger might restore what petty crimes have destroyed. As the team prepares their complex operation, Carlos feels pieces of himself returning. He slips into the required roles, rediscovering skills he thought were gone. But only as the mission nears its climax does he see how to truly reclaim his life. The kidnapping succeeds, yet Carlos must improvise a desperate rescue and escape that will determine whether he remains among the walking dead or fights his way back to the living.
Genres: adventure, crime, thriller, action
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: redemption-arc, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Tijuana, Central America, Vietnam
Period: 20th-century
306 pages · Paperback · W. W. Norton & Company
Content warnings: kidnapping, violence