The Last Dawn

A compelling story line and complex characters distinguish Gannon’s second novel featuring former Sandinista leader Ajax Montoya (after 2014’s Night of the Jaguar). In 1989, Margret Mary and James “Big Jim” Peck want to hire Ajax and his partner, Gladys Darío, to track down their 24-year-old son, Jimmy, who traveled to El Salvador for a U.S. senator to gather information on the country’s human rights record. For that to happen, Gladys needs to get Ajax discharged from a psychiatric hospital, where he’s been treated for aggression with medications that have left him catatonic. Fortunately for the Pecks, Ajax has just been shamming his diminished capacity, and he’s able to undertake the covert operation to try to save Jimmy. The plot integrates the violence of the region without contrivance, and Ajax, who’s haunted by the blood he’s shed in the past, is a well-developed lead. Some attempts at humor, however, won’t be to every taste. [em]Agent: Lisa Gallagher, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (Jan.) [/em]