Spider Snatch

Branon's (Let Us Prey; Devil's Hole) third novel is a lively, invigorating adventure thriller, loaded with nonstop, nail-biting action. The protagonist is 29-year-old doormat Evvie North, the na ve wife of brash and domineering DEA agent Ted. Reeling from the death of her baby daughter in a convenience store shoot-out, Evvie is nearly buried in grief, so when Ted gets fired from his job and suggests they ""chuck it all"" to cruise around the Panama Canal area, Evvie is happy to leave their San Diego home. What she doesn't know until it's almost too late is that this ""vacation"" is a covert government operation designed to destroy a drug lord named Spider. On foreign seas, Evvie learns some shady secrets about her husband and about Spider and his band of thugs, as well as some important, life-affirming rituals from an island's small population of peace-loving Cuna Indians. Her conversion from pliant wife to formidable force is not easy, but luckily gallant and wise sailor Arthur Arthur, reprieved from Branon's previous works, is around to help her. Branon graphically details incidents of rape and murder as Evvie battles severe storms, brutal attacks on her buff frame, and an eerie reconnaissance on the perilous island paradise. Amid tortured natives and machete-whacked bodies, the novel revs up to a strong resolution as loyalties shift and revenge is wrought. Branon adds interesting local color in describing the native culture of the Cuna Indians who inhabit one of twin islands off Panama. He contributes enough Cuna lifestyle details (including a poignant infant burial ceremony) and mythology to fill a folklore encyclopedia, perhaps too much for some readers. But they'll stay glued as, driven by revenge and pummeled by adversity and depravity, Evvie ultimately triumphs in Branon's high-octane action tale. (Nov.)