Tracking Ariana by Larry Terhaar

 Guess you could say that this book is very topical. First off, the story begins around Ramadan that just started as this is being prepared. Second, it's about what happens when ICE runs amok, sweeping people off the streets for no reason, due process or legality, or feeling. 

Ariana Wilkinson is a young Afghan immigrant and mother of two. She worked as an interpreter in Afghanistan where she met Joe, an Air Force officer. He went through all the legal hoops to get her out of Afghanistan to the USA where they were married. During an Eid celebration, ICE descends on a park full of other Muslim families. Despite Ariana having all the necessary documentation with her, ICE still grabbed her and her children and put them into 'the system' to be deported; a system without much in the way of checks and balances.

Just as all this was happening, Joe returns from his most recent (and last) deployment. The newly retired full bird Colonel starts a full court press searching for where his family has gone and where they are destined. Meanwhile, all the ICE screwups have spawned a cottage industry of lawyers desperate to help those wrongly detained. Seth Bodner and private investigator Dan Burnett step up to the plate and  begin uncovering the good and the bad about what ICE is doing. The story shifts back and forth between the angst of Col. Joe, attorney Seth, and PI Dan as well and the rising fear of a dark future facing Ariana’s terror.

There are many characters to cheer for. First and foremost is Ariana and her terror about what's happening. Then there is Col. Joe's feeling of in adequacy in being unable to yank his family back out of 'the system;' this is a guy used to giving orders that are carried out immediately. Seth and Dan work the streets and gutters moving three steps forward and two steps back through various levels of government interference. 

Some might say that this is just some left wing drivel written to heap mounds of criticism over the government's deportation policies. That's a bit unfair. The overarching confusion about what's being done and what should be done on both sides of the deportation debate litters the story. Both sides are presented almost coldly with minimal passion. For me, I'm torn between this being a legal thriller or a family drama played out in men in masks vs. innocents in hajibs.

That'll be for the reader to decide. You decide. Our lines are open. 

Just published and on the shelf of your favorite bookstore. 

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance reader copy.  

ECD