"In Nicaragua during the time of the Sandinistas and the Contras murder is rampant"
Reviewed by Shellie Surles
Posted January 24, 2015
Suspense
Ajax Montoya is a former Hero of the Rebellion and
prominent Sandinista until he disappears from the public
eye only to return years later as a police captain.
Ajax has been dealing with the ghost from the war, we
call it PTSD; he calls it alcoholism. Even with all his
problems he is a good detective. Yet as he fights to
remain sober bodies start to pile up and the stress to
solve the crimes mounts.
Ajax must discover who is truly behind the murders that
point to the Contras. There is more going on than Ajax
can initially sense and when all is said and done the
betrayal of Judas will seem simple in comparison.
Joe Gannon a journalist from the time of the Contra and
Sandinista conflict shows a perspective of the people of
Nicaragua you may never have considered. It seems pretty
obvious that Nicaragua and many other small nations fell
to the struggle between two superpowers that affected
millions.
NIGHT OF THE JAGUAR is an exciting thriller that keeps
you guessing till the end. The investigation is
intriguing and the characters understandable and
sympathetic.
Joe Gannon has a hit with NIGHT OF THE JAGUAR and for
lovers of cold war thrillers this is a must read.
SUMMARY
In Joe Gannon's debut novel, Night of the Jaguar, a former
Sandinista guerrilla comandante turned cop investigates a
series of murders that appear to be political executions. Sandinista Police Captain Ajax Montoya is six days sober
and
losing his mind. How else to explain his nights waking in
bed, his hand wrapped around that bloody-minded stiletto
from the old days, or the presence outside his window, a
face with no eyes watching him? How far the heroic have fallen. Ajax was once the gallant
comandante guerrillero. A hero of the Nicaraguan
revolutionaries in their long uprising against the Ogre
and
his hated National Guard. Back then he’d been the guy who
got the bloody missions -- as a lowly grunt with that
blade,
or the commander of an entire front. Back then he knew
what
was what and who to trust. But as the clarity of war gave
way to the hazy reality of peace, Ajax fared less well.
And
after he took the fall for an assassination he had no part
of, he tumbled into a bottle, and maybe out of his mind. Now he's a homicide investigator in Managua solving
murders
and sweating through the nightmares from his guerilla
days.
When he's called to investigate a robbery turned gruesome
murder, Ajax recognizes the marks of a surprising enemy -
the CIA mercenary army known as The Contra. This isn't
just
a random murder; this is an execution, a call to war. Or
is
it? And why does no one want to know but Ajax? As the
bodies pile up and a red-headed gringa who should be his
enemy enchants his thoughts, Ajax questions whether he can
stay sober, sane, and alive long enough to figure it all
out.
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