With a blood-guilt not assuaged by religion, counselors, or family, Frank Darling returns to Nicaragua questioning all his justifications for several sanctioned-and unauthorized-murders during the height of U.S. Government involvement in the
Contrarrevolución.
For three days, fraught with emotion and memories, the random people he meets will lead inexorably to a destiny he could never imagine. There is Paul, the now-grown son of a man he slaughtered in a village massacre. Then, Padre Rafael de Ayala, an old priest whose perception of faith was shattered by Frank's distorted sense of justice. And Elena, a young woman who abandoned her devotion to the church after its unholy alliance with the most brutal elements of a war-torn country. Seeking neither forgiveness or sympathy, Frank's sense of right and wrong force him to confront the results of his actions beyond the trope of "patriotism" or "following orders."
Be careful what you ask for.
Discovering that he himself has been targeted for execution, the confrontation pitting him against a ruthless Nicaraguan colonel and Ed Rettig, his old handler, forces Frank to choose between the cold-blooded killer he became and the simple-hearted man he once was.
Historically accurate. Emotionally true. Politically Damning.