Midnight Stranger

In Midnight Stranger we follow Ruth Sontag Ridenour as she flees for her life and to protect her son, Eric, now about 18 months. She is traveling through Borrango Flat, a little sleepy town just north of the California/Mexico border. Hopefully more than 50 miles ahead of Joseph Ridenour. She has pulled to a stop at a crossing, not wanting to attract any attention, when a scruffy stranger yankes open her passenger door and tells her to step on it. Driving out into the desert she is trying to find a way to escape the highjacker when she realizes that he has passed out. Yupe, she tries to get help for this guy and stops at a hospital only to find a police officer with cold, killer eyes talking to someone about Garrett Kincaid being dead or if not he was going to kill him. Boy, what mess has she gotten into now? Her first priority is to protect her son, Eric and she can't call her brother Luke. Garrett is on the run because he is accused of killing his wife and someone wants him dead. He is wounded and needs a place to hide and directs the lady with her child into the desert. Ruth doesn't exactly trust Garrett as they both have hiden agendas and personel secrets. And Eric is now calling Garrett, "Daddy" - how can she explain to her child that he is not his daddy. There is wonderful exchanges between Ruth and Garrett and Eric. How can she help him? Garrett wants to call his lawyer friend, Jeff Terhune. But all of a sudden Eldon Grimmel shows up. More that once when she tries to help. The chief of police is tracking them somehow. Garrett finally has to reveal that his wife and her lover were involved in bringing aliens across the Mexican border and their bosses brutally killed men, women and children. They were witnesses and had to be eliminated. What a great story and the plot thickens. Hard to put down, except for the stint in the desert the pace was very good. Little Eric made the story more realistic and helped bond the characters together. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED --M - A great follow-up to STILL MARRIED, Luke's story, Ruth's brother.