Fiction inspired by a true story. A family member was kidnapped in Mexico by international drug smugglers. Used and abused, she was held against her will for eleven days. A dramatic rescue incurred the day before she was to be shipped to Mexico City for use in the cartel's prostitution trade. I was there.

South of the U.S. border in Old Mexico trouble has been brewing since Felipe Calderon was elected president and began a reign of terror onto the cartels. Their response has been to kidnap, torture, kill and dismember anyone they don't like. The displays of dismembered bodies on public streets in major metropolitan areas is startling. No one is safe. Victims include elected officials, government employees, reporters, musicians, religious leaders, law enforcement, illegals trying to make a new life for themselves and innocent bystanders who get in the way of a stray bullet. Truly, Mexico is lawless. Big U.S. bucks from the sale of drugs, illegal workers, counterfeit movies and music are flooding into Mexico. An estimated $50 billion a year is making its way across the Rio Grande. This is the second largest influx of foreign cash into Mexico after petroleum products, and eighty percent is profit. Millions of palms are being greased by this drug money to look the other way. No one wants it to stop. The Mexican saying "silver or lead" means: allow the cartel to operate as it wants and make money, or fight us and die from a lead bullet. On the average of one a month, town mayors and law enforcement people are being kidnapped, tortured and killed. Recently two of the highest level military men in Mexico were arrested for suspicion of taking cartel drug money. This is the first known English account of cartel life today. It follows a fictional aging drug kingpin as he navigates through his world which has been turned upside down. The twists and turns in this story are as entertaining as the relationships are captivating. Enjoy!

When the world's foremost kidnap and ransom negotiator is snatched by a ruthless drug cartel, Jake Riley becomes ensnared in the effort to save him. But he's up against Los Zetas, an elite paramilitary organization renowned for its ferocity and skill. Now he and his colleagues must navigate the dark underbelly of Mexico, from raging street wars to perilous jungles, in an effort to rescue him before time runs out. After nearly losing her life on her last case, FBI Agent Kelly Jones may never do fieldwork again. Determined to regain her confidence, she joins Jake on his mission—and quickly realizes she's in over her head. Then in the slums of Mexico City, she encounters a former nemesis who's enacting a nightmarish ritual on the weak and vulnerable. Now she has one last, desperate shot to prove herself—by taking down a killer.

A riveting true story of a mother who fought back against the drug cartels in Mexico, pursuing her own brand of justice to avenge the kidnapping and murder of her daughter—from a global investigative correspondent for The New York Times “Azam Ahmed has written a page-turning mystery but also a stunning, color-saturated portrait of the collapse of formal justice in one Mexican town.”—Steve Coll, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Directorate S Fear Is Just a Word begins on an international bridge between Mexico and the United States, as fifty-six-year-old Miriam Rodríguez stalks one of the men she believes was involved in the murder of her daughter Karen. He is her target number eleven, a member of the drug cartel that has terrorized and controlled what was once Miriam’s quiet hometown of San Fernando, Mexico, almost one hundred miles from the U.S. border. Having dyed her hair red as a disguise, Miriam watches, waits, and then orchestrates the arrest of this man, exacting her own version of justice. Woven into this deeply researched, moving account is the story of how cartels built their power in Mexico, escalated the use of violence, and kidnapped and murdered tens of thousands. Karen was just one of the many people who disappeared, and Miriam, a brilliant, strategic, and fearless woman, begged for help from the authorities and paid ransom money she could not afford in hopes of saving her daughter. When that failed, she decided that “fear is just a word,” and began a crusade to track down Karen’s killers and to help other victimized families in their search for justice. What do people do when their country and the peaceful town where they have grown up become unrecognizable, suddenly places of violence and fear? Azam Ahmed takes us into the grieving of a country and a family to tell the mesmerizing story of a brave and brilliant woman determined to find out what happened to her daughter, and to see that the criminals who murdered her were punished. Fear Is Just a Word is an unforgettable and moving portrait of a woman, a town, and a country, and of what can happen when violent forces leave people to seek justice on their own.

AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN eBOOK! In 1990, fearing extradition to the United States, Pablo Escobar – head of the Medellín drug cartel – kidnapped ten notable Colombians to use as bargaining chips. With the eye of a poet, García Márquez describes the survivors’ perilous ordeal and the bizarre drama of the negotiations for their release. He also depicts the keening ache of Colombia after nearly forty years of rebel uprisings, right-wing death squads, currency collapse and narco-democracy. With cinematic intensity, breathtaking language and journalistic rigor, García Márquez evokes the sickness that inflicts his beloved country and how it penetrates every strata of society, from the lowliest peasant to the President himself.

Answering the summons of his old Black Ops mentor to assist in bringing to an end a Mexican cartel preying on the people they smuggle over the border, Joe Hunter is happy to oblige. But he should have guessed there was more to Walter Hayes Conrad's agenda than first believed.For decades, Walter has kept a secret, even from those closest to him: a family he has protected from his enemies through denial of their existence. But now the secret is about to explode. His great-grandson Benjamin has been abducted, snatched by Jorge Carrillo Molina, head of one of Mexico's most dangerous drug cartels, and Walter is as desperate to rescue the boy as his mother Kirstie is. There's only one man Walter trusts to bring the boy home, so how can Hunter refuse?There is a huge complication -- Molina happens to be Benjamin's father and he won't give him up without a fight.Praise for Matt Hilton and the Joe Hunter thrillers ..."...rockets along like a thundering rollercoaster...a torrentially fast flowing story...a shot of pulse-pounding escapism." -- Crimesquad.com, 5-star review"A very quick read, the action remains at the forefront of the novel and doesn't let up until the dramatic conclusion. It's the high octane page turning and explosive confrontations that gives Hunter his longevity. A likeable character who is both moralistic and deadly, a heady combination, Hunter takes no prisoners as he sets about handing out his own brand of justice." -- Milo's Rambles

Paul Roland, leaving his home in Austin, Texas one February morning in 2008 was abducted at gunpoint and held for ransom at the direction of one of the most vicious drug cartel leaders in Mexico. "Walking Between The Raindrops", gives voice to the victims, the perpetrators and the heroes of this true story.