Sandy M’s review of Cry No More by Linda Howard
Contemporary Romance published by Ballantine Books 4 Nov 03

In keeping with my vow to read more of my favorite authors’ back lists, I decided to pick up Cry No More when a friend on Facebook posted they cried every time they read this book. So that definitely put a bug in my ear and I loaded the story on my iPhone immediately. I knew I would love the book – it’s Linda Howard – but I was curious to see if I would have the same reaction as that friend, mostly because there’s been very few authors over the years who have actually gotten tears out of me.

Milla and her husband are enjoying life in Mexico, especially with the birth of their son six weeks ago. But everything is about to fall apart as Milla shops at a local outdoor market and two men grab Justin from her in an attempted kidnapping. Milla fights for all she’s worth, and the only way the men can get away with the boy is to stab Milla, leaving her bleeding and near death. Her husband, a doctor, and the rest of his team work endlessly to save Milla. But their son is gone, and, as happens with a lot of families in this type of situation, their marriage doesn’t make it and it’s now ten years later, Milla still on her mission to find her son.

She’s back in the U.S. and has founded Finders, a volunteer-run organization all over the country that has evolved to locating all missing persons, not just children as it began when Milla started her searching for Justin. She just got a tip about the man who she believes was involved in the kidnapping, so she and a colleague are staking out an untoward meeting in Juarez, Mexico. When she realizes one of the men she’s watching is the very same who grabbed her child, she nearly loses it and storms the men. But out of nowhere a man holds her down as he also watches the clandestine meeting. She later learns that man is Diaz, the name she’s always associated with the bad buy. As she’s about to find out, though Diaz is not on the up and up, he’s also not the villain she’s always assumed.

When Diaz confronts Milla again, he agrees to help her in her quest, and thus begins the unlikely relationship between them. I thoroughly enjoyed their getting to know one another as they trek into Mexico or journey through other places in the U.S. on leads, look for other people’s kin when necessary, and get closer and closer to the truth. It’s a blow when they learn Milla has been given false information for so many years, but when the truth is finally revealed and her greatest wish is fulfilled, you sag in relief just as Milla does. It’s been such an emotional journey so far. Diaz is as stalwart as they come, and even after his perceived betrayal, he’s there when Milla needs him most. Those days they spend at the ocean are wonderfully done.

Of course, the best is near the end, eight years and two children later, seeing them both finally happy in a house full of love. It’s at this point with a knock on their door that I did become misty-eyed and began to think, “Oh, no, here it comes.” But that’s actually the end of the book, it leaves you to fill in what you think may happen after that. So while my emotions were definitely engaged, I didn’t have quite the same reaction as some readers. I’m still on the fence on whether I would have liked more after that ending scene or if it’s just better left where it is. Either way, I loved it.

Grade: A

Summary:

On a sultry afternoon in a small dusty village, Milla Boone faces every parent’s nightmare. Two assailants kidnap her six-week-old son, leaving Milla behind in a pool of blood.

For ten years Milla’s resolve to find her son never wavers. Returning to the scene of the crime, Milla begins to piece together not only her son’s fate, but the fate of countless other children who have disappeared into what appears to be an elaborate and highly lucrative baby smuggling ring. Cautiously, she joins forces with James Diaz, a dangerous stranger with his own agenda, a man who is as untrusting as he is untrustworthy.

As Milla’s search for her son intensifies, along with a growing desire for Diaz, the quest becomes more treacherous. Suddenly entangled in an intricate criminal network of conspiracy and murder, Milla finds herself the hunted—the target of a lethal force of hired assassins that aims to silence her permanently.

No excerpt available.