Craig McDonald takes a break from his Hector Lassiter thrillers with a story that addresses the timely issue of illegal immigration into the United States. Taking neither a pro nor con stance, El Gavilan probes the gray areas while illustrating the volatile effects of the rape-murder of a Mexican-American mother on a small Ohio town.
El Gavilan follows three lawmen--Sheriff Able Hawk, Police Chief Tell Lyon and Sheriff Walt Pierce--as they battle each other for territorial rights in the rape-murder investigation. Each has his own agenda; none wears an unsullied white hat. Through their actions, McDonald smudges the lines between right and wrong, leaving readers with potentially conflicting feelings about the characters. It's this conflict that makes El Gavilan so irresistible: love or hate the characters, you can't help but invest in them. The story draws further power from McDonald's descriptive skills, as the sights, sounds and even the smells of his fictitious Ohio town reach from the pages and pull the reader in. El Gavilan proves that Craig McDonald is as capable working in the contemporary thriller as he is with historicals, and we can only hope he has many more opportunities to bring his stories to print. --Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts