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Cry No More

Review

Cry No More



Bestselling author Linda Howard is at the top of her game with this
romantic suspense novel that shifts into emotional high gear in the
first chapter when a six-week old baby is snatched from his
mother's arms on a street in Mexico.

For Milla and her doctor husband, David, life had been pretty close
to perfect until that horrible moment. They were young, madly in
love and had just been blessed with the gift of their newborn baby,
Justin. Despite Milla's concerns at giving birth in Mexico where
David was volunteering at a health clinic, everything had gone off
without a hitch. But her relief and joy at being a new mom was
abruptly shattered when Justin is brutally and inexplicably taken
from her in a vicious attack.

After recovering from the near-fatal stab wounds inflicted by the
kidnappers, Milla vows never to give up until she finds her son,
who was likely stolen for an illegal adoption ring trafficking in
black market babies. Her marriage eventually collapses under the
enormous strain of grief and her obsessive drive to find Justin at
all costs. In the ten years following the kidnapping, Milla
dedicates herself to the cause of finding lost children by
establishing the Finders organization. Her tireless work in seeking
the missing enables her to both pursue leads for her son and numb
the pain of her own loss.

Although the trail for Justin had long since grown cold in the ten
years since the kidnapping, an anonymous phone tip may suddenly
lead Milla to her son's kidnappers. A mysterious assassin named
Diaz becomes her unlikely ally in the search, and she finds herself
powerfully and physically drawn to him against her better judgment.
The attentions of a wealthy local businessman with an agenda of his
own complicates the picture and Milla finds herself caught up in a
web of deception and deceit, uncertain of who to trust, even
amongst her closest friends. On the twisted and danger-fraught
trail of cold-blooded killers, she and Diaz slowly unravel the
horrible and shocking truth behind the illicit baby adoption
operation and a related organ smuggling scheme. When at last Milla
is given the vengeance she deserves and the information she had so
long craved, she is forced to make the most difficult decision of
her life, resulting in an emotional and bittersweet
conclusion.

In Milla, Linda Howard has created an authentic and compassionate
heroine of enormous depth and emotion. Her simultaneous toughness
and vulnerability make for a complexly believable character whose
incredible inner strength and single-minded drive quickly wins our
admiration. We feel Milla's pain, sadness and triumphs so intensely
that it's almost as if they were our own.

While the author is strong on characterization and adept at
crafting a gripping story with an emotionally resonant punch, she
falls short of the mark on plotting by allowing us to see the
resolution long before it happens. Her narrative decision to put us
into the heads of several characters, including the crime's
perpetrators, removes the element of suspense from the book early
on. Discovering the truth alongside Milla, as opposed to knowing
the outcome in advance, would have made for a far more riveting
conclusion. Nonetheless, it is a testament to Howard's skill as a
writer and our great feelings for the heroine that we are motivated
to keep reading long after the proverbial cat is out of the
bag.

CRY NO MORE satisfies on many levels. In addition to being a
gripping suspense novel and delicious roller coaster ride of
emotions, it is also a powerful exploration of loss, grief and
healing. This is by far one of Linda Howard's finest.

Reviewed by Joni Rendon on January 21, 2011

Cry No More
by Linda Howard

  • Publication Date: April 27, 2004
  • Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Ballantine Books
  • ISBN-10: 0345453425
  • ISBN-13: 9780345453426