CAPTURE NARCOS

A man with partial memory loss joins the Drug Enforcement Administration in taking down narcos while searching for the mysterious woman he loves in this debut thriller.

New Yorker Juan Del Valle has a potential investor for his sports-related “business idea.” Before he has a chance to present his concept, Juan meets a beautiful woman at a New Jersey mall. Though his dalliances have earned him the nickname Don Juan, he’s smitten with her on an emotional level. Revisiting the mall until finally seeing her again, he learns her name is Angie Hope. She’s married to a cheating, abusive husband who threatens to take away their son if she ever leaves him. Juan and Angie grow close but initially maintain a physical distance, communicating via text. But soon they both want more than the poetry Juan sends her. Unfortunately, Juan’s possible investor, Don Emilio Ramirez, is under DEA investigation. Juan’s eventual meeting with him goes unexpectedly sour, leaving the protagonist hurt and in a two-month coma. Upon awakening, Juan can’t recall the details leading up to his injury. DEA Special Agent Jessie Pichardo, who has investigated Ramirez, recruits Juan, a former Marine, to convince women to turn against their narco husbands or boyfriends. This, of course, requires going undercover for the purpose of seduction, which Juan is familiar with. But after perusing his text messages, he realizes Angie is the love of his life. Since she’s likely tied to a noted cartel member, other cartels may have targeted her. Juan hopes to track down Angie while Jessie suspects someone has “compromised” the DEA.

In this series opener, Geronimo establishes an appealing romance between Juan and Angie. There’s minimal information regarding the abuse she suffers—narrator Juan implies he’s intentionally avoiding the subject—but the couple’s mutual attraction is convincing. Much of their story entails Juan’s poems, both in the narrative and in texts to Angie. While the poetry is sometimes clichéd and repetitive, it’s more often indelible: “I don’t even need to touch you to swerve you into my light.” Juan is a winning protagonist. He has understandable contempt for Angie’s husband, whom he doesn’t know, but Juan acknowledges that his own prior treatment of women was insensitive. Things get more intense as Juan and Angie move toward a physical connection. Not only is Juan anxious over the probability of sex with Angie, but he becomes paranoid as well, sure that her rich husband has someone spying on him. The book’s final third becomes a full-scale thriller. Juan is on a mission and running out of time, and he enlists the help of Matthew, a fellow soldier and cybersecurity specialist who offers his hacking skills to the DEA. Sadly, the story practically sprints to the end, quickly pushing past the operation and summarizing a violent turn with surprising ease. This could be an avenue to explore in the sequel. Geronimo’s digital illustrations add color to the pages as well as mystery, occasionally involving individuals or scenes that readers won’t immediately recognize. A few of these remain unknown by the ending, which teases the second installment.

An engaging romantic mystery.