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The Last Dawn
Gladys Darío, sterling police lieutenant for the revolutionary Sandinista government in volatile 1986 Nicaragua, has been kidnapped by a notorious Contra commander. Gladys knows she doesn't have a hope for escape, unless her partner on the police force, former Sandinista guerrilla comandante Ajax Montoya, stages a rescue attempt. When he does, it's more outrageous than Gladys could ever have imagined. But it comes at a price. Ajax is imprisoned for years, and Gladys is sent to Miami and blacklisted in her home country. And then a young American journalist, Jimmy Peck, goes missing in El Salvador. American Senator Anthony Teal wants Ajax Montoya running that rescue operation, too, and Teal has the strings to pull to make it happen. Teal sends Ajax and Gladys into treacherous, war-torn El Salvador to find out what really happened to young Peck, and to bring him home, alive or dead. But when it looks like another American has been killed in El Salvador, Ajax and Gladys find themselves dangerously entangled in a murder case as well as a missing person case, all playing out in the heart of El Salvador's raging civil war.
- GenresMystery
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 26, 2016
2 people are currently reading
269 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 3, 2017
I enjoyed this book more than I expected I would. Joe Gannon has created two terrifically complex main characters, and he reveals their personality through their actions rather than exposition. The twisted and confusing alliances between the Somoza government, the Sandanistas, the Contras, the FMLN and the Salvadoran Death Squads takes some brain power to keep straight. (I admit I more than once lost track of who was fighting for what cause, and why so-and-so was killing those other people.)
A lot of the politics from this time-frame doesn't reflect terribly well on America's foreign policy, nor on whom America chooses to support in the name of ideology.
The mystery at the center of this novel was as convoluted as the politics, meaning I lost the thread of conflicting motivations as often as I did which faction supported what. The thing that kept me going was the narrative surrounding the two main characters and how their personal struggle played out.
A lot of the politics from this time-frame doesn't reflect terribly well on America's foreign policy, nor on whom America chooses to support in the name of ideology.
The mystery at the center of this novel was as convoluted as the politics, meaning I lost the thread of conflicting motivations as often as I did which faction supported what. The thing that kept me going was the narrative surrounding the two main characters and how their personal struggle played out.
April 29, 2016
Mysterious Book Report No. 241
The Last Dawn
by John Dwaine McKenna
Unless you’ve recently vacationed in Costa Rica or Belize, the geography of Central America is pretty much terra incognita for most of us who live north of the Mexican border and speak English as our mother tongue. But back in the 1980s, the Central American nation of Nicaragua was a focus of attention by the US government as the communists—backed by the Cubans—fought the dictator Anastasio Samoza and deposed him. But then, the fight moved to neighboring El Salvador, where it became so vicious that “Even the Grim Reaper needs an armed escort to venture there.” With the USSR supporting the communist insurgents and the USA backing the Salvadorean Government, the tiny country became the scene of a bloody proxy war between the superpowers. It’s a rich—and previously unexplored—source for crime fiction writers. That’s all changing, thanks to a talented writer named Joe Gannon.
His second work of fiction, The Last Dawn, (Minotaur Books, $26.99, 278 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-04803-5) is the follow up to his debut entitled, Night of the Jaguar. Both feature Ajax Montoya, an expatriate American who grew up in Los Angeles, California, but went on to be a Cuban-trained captain in the Sandanista Army. At the end of the war in Nicaragua, he frees his comrade-in-arms, Lieutenant Gladys Dario from a psychopathic, sadistic killer and rapist named Krill. Gladys escapes to Miami, but Montoya is imprisoned in a mental hospital for his actions against the new Sandinista Government. Now, it’s three years later . . . 1989 . . . and unbeknownst to Montoya, the communist world has changed. The Berlin Wall has fallen, Germany is reunited and the U.S.S.R. has crumbled, but the civil war in El Salvador is at it’s zenith. When the man who betrayed him shows up, Montoya takes on the hopeless task of finding—and rescuing the brother of the woman he loved and lost, who died during the Nicaraguan War. Her parents are using Montoya’s guilt as leverage to locate their son, who’s somewhere among the disappeared. All Montoya has to do is infiltrate the nastiest civil war on the planet where he has no friends, local contacts, weapons or knowledge of conditions on the scene and find his own escape route once the mission is completed.
This arresting novel is fast-paced, loaded with action and contains an element of magical realism featuring a ghost, who represents Montoya’s guilt. The Last Dawn is a slam-bang thriller that’ll leave you eagerly anticipating Mr. Gannon’s next installment of his Ajax Montoya saga.
The Last Dawn
by John Dwaine McKenna
Unless you’ve recently vacationed in Costa Rica or Belize, the geography of Central America is pretty much terra incognita for most of us who live north of the Mexican border and speak English as our mother tongue. But back in the 1980s, the Central American nation of Nicaragua was a focus of attention by the US government as the communists—backed by the Cubans—fought the dictator Anastasio Samoza and deposed him. But then, the fight moved to neighboring El Salvador, where it became so vicious that “Even the Grim Reaper needs an armed escort to venture there.” With the USSR supporting the communist insurgents and the USA backing the Salvadorean Government, the tiny country became the scene of a bloody proxy war between the superpowers. It’s a rich—and previously unexplored—source for crime fiction writers. That’s all changing, thanks to a talented writer named Joe Gannon.
His second work of fiction, The Last Dawn, (Minotaur Books, $26.99, 278 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-04803-5) is the follow up to his debut entitled, Night of the Jaguar. Both feature Ajax Montoya, an expatriate American who grew up in Los Angeles, California, but went on to be a Cuban-trained captain in the Sandanista Army. At the end of the war in Nicaragua, he frees his comrade-in-arms, Lieutenant Gladys Dario from a psychopathic, sadistic killer and rapist named Krill. Gladys escapes to Miami, but Montoya is imprisoned in a mental hospital for his actions against the new Sandinista Government. Now, it’s three years later . . . 1989 . . . and unbeknownst to Montoya, the communist world has changed. The Berlin Wall has fallen, Germany is reunited and the U.S.S.R. has crumbled, but the civil war in El Salvador is at it’s zenith. When the man who betrayed him shows up, Montoya takes on the hopeless task of finding—and rescuing the brother of the woman he loved and lost, who died during the Nicaraguan War. Her parents are using Montoya’s guilt as leverage to locate their son, who’s somewhere among the disappeared. All Montoya has to do is infiltrate the nastiest civil war on the planet where he has no friends, local contacts, weapons or knowledge of conditions on the scene and find his own escape route once the mission is completed.
This arresting novel is fast-paced, loaded with action and contains an element of magical realism featuring a ghost, who represents Montoya’s guilt. The Last Dawn is a slam-bang thriller that’ll leave you eagerly anticipating Mr. Gannon’s next installment of his Ajax Montoya saga.
April 10, 2016
Closer to 2 1/2 stars.
This novel starts off promising and ends on a good note as well, but the middle seemed muddled to me. Ajax Montoya & Gladys Dario are recruited to head to El Salvador to bring back the body (dead or alive) of American journalist Jimmy Peck. This was their mission, but too often they seemed to deviate from it, only to recall a while later what they were supposed to be doing. Finding arch-nemesis Krill seemed to take over until near the end when Jimmy Peck reappears.
"...against the booming music crashing out her window like heavy horse cavalry pounding down on an undefended town.""
"Their trek to the University of Central America, Gladys felt, was long, dangerous, and strangely monotonous, like riding a tortoise through a minefield"
"...made their way to the iron gate, pocked with bullet holes like zits on a dead teenager's face."
These are just some of the similes used by Joe Gannon in this novel. I like a good simile or metaphor as much as anyone, but this was overkill, like using a bazooka on a mosquito. There seemed to be several in each chapter and after a while they lost their punch.
I did enjoy the backdrop of Nicaragua and El Salvador in 1989 at the end of the Cold War. The author's experience as a freelance journalist during that time came through, adding realism to the story. Unfortunately, I feel the plot just couldn't keep up.
I received this book for free through Goodreads first-reads.
This novel starts off promising and ends on a good note as well, but the middle seemed muddled to me. Ajax Montoya & Gladys Dario are recruited to head to El Salvador to bring back the body (dead or alive) of American journalist Jimmy Peck. This was their mission, but too often they seemed to deviate from it, only to recall a while later what they were supposed to be doing. Finding arch-nemesis Krill seemed to take over until near the end when Jimmy Peck reappears.
"...against the booming music crashing out her window like heavy horse cavalry pounding down on an undefended town.""
"Their trek to the University of Central America, Gladys felt, was long, dangerous, and strangely monotonous, like riding a tortoise through a minefield"
"...made their way to the iron gate, pocked with bullet holes like zits on a dead teenager's face."
These are just some of the similes used by Joe Gannon in this novel. I like a good simile or metaphor as much as anyone, but this was overkill, like using a bazooka on a mosquito. There seemed to be several in each chapter and after a while they lost their punch.
I did enjoy the backdrop of Nicaragua and El Salvador in 1989 at the end of the Cold War. The author's experience as a freelance journalist during that time came through, adding realism to the story. Unfortunately, I feel the plot just couldn't keep up.
I received this book for free through Goodreads first-reads.
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February 26, 2016Having pissed off everyone in 1989 Nicaragua, Sandinista Capt Ajax Montoya is rotting away in a psychiatric ward until his old case officer springs him for a mission pissing off everyone in El Salvador.
May 25, 2016
Not a fan, only made it about 50 pages in a couldn't read it anymore
July 3, 2016
I loved the first book in this series but this one was awful. Half the story was a recap of what happened in the first book. The other half was just ridiculous.
August 10, 2016
3.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews