No Ransom

In April of 1980, Ted Brooks, American Consul General in El Salvador, finds himself on the floor locked into a small room somewhere in Latin America. He was drugged and has no memory of how, when or why he was kidnapped. His last memory is of visiting an old school friend, Alphonso in Guatemala City. The Consul's wife, Sue, who had been evacuated when the atrocities began in El Salvador, gets word of the kidnapping from the State Department. She is living in Boston. The story takes place during the weeks of Ted's incarceration both from his viewpoint and from his family's. It includes a series of flashbacks and memories that cover the Brooks' life together, in diplomatic posts around the world during the Viet Nam war through to the war in El Salvador, just before the era of terrorism. The U.S. policy on kidnappings is no ransom. This short novel, describes diplomatic life in the years leading up the era of feminism, terrorism and instant communication. It was a kinder and gentler time when diplomats were a protected species.