Hasta Mañana

By Carolyn Wilkerson

Book Overview

About the Book

Hasta Ma ana tells the story of Border Patrol Agent Myriam Valencia's search for the drug smuggler who gave her son drugs that killed him, while also addressing illegal immigration and the difficult task of patrolling the southwestern border.

While this timeless story is based on things that could happen, it also highlights the story of an adolescent mother, who had to first raise herself, and who had to make the hard decisions about the needs and responsibilities of her child, and her parental rights. In the end, she must choose between friendship and justice.

Critically acclaimed author, Carolyn Wilkerson, wishes you, the reader, to take away an authentic depiction of reality and its many diverse interpretations, as it currently exists on all sides of border/migration management issues, considering their inextricably intertwined, social, cultural, and economic factors.

About the Author

Although Wilkerson has used her writing skills to author professional documents, she notes that she was shy by nature and a closet writer of fiction and poetry for many years. Writing is a way Wilkerson liberated her thoughts from her head, even when no one read them but her. Writing helped her to absorb the grief of losing her father at age twelve, her mother two weeks after her sixteenth birthday, and writing poetry helped her to deal with the anxiety of living in Washington, D.C. during the late 1960's riots. Writing was also an affordable therapy when her marriage fizzled after just three years.

Wilkerson published articles and a biweekly newspaper column in what seems like another lifetime. Since most beginning writers don't have a predictable income and she was raising a young child without child support, that career path was not an option. Now, her son, a retired U.S. Federal Agent, is helping her to fulfill a dream deferred. Wilkerson encourages others who have had to make practical choices in years past to revisit their childhood dreams, inspiring others to embrace the passion that might still be there under the cocoon like layers of life that got in the way, just waiting for a breath of fresh perspective to unfurl their wings.

"Hasta Ma ana is a fast-moving and exciting thriller novel with great characters and a story where the line between the bad guys and good guys is crossed as often as the U.S. border. Wilkerson accurately portrayed my experience of working as a Border Patrol Agent while keeping me entertained the whole way with each chapter drawing me to the next, leading to an unexpected conclusion." - Mike Molloy, U.S. Border Patrol Agent in Charge, Retired

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0CQ64PLQV
• ISBN13: 9798890275080
• Release Date: December 2023
• Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Co.
• Length: 194 Pages
• Weight: 0.59 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Authentic Fast Paced Thriller!

Wilkerson has convincingly captured the meaning of what it means to work at the southwest border as a Federal Agent. The imagery and detailed accounts of Miriam Valencia (the main character) were realistic and quickly pulled me through the book. Dealing with challenging topics such as current day immigration concerns, national security and immigrant rights, Wilkerson successfully paints the perspective of all sides and allows the reader to enjoy the book's multi-plot structure. Whether at work in the desert as she conducts the search of her life or while she deals with the painful real life problems from which none of us are exempt, the pages just didn't stop turning. And Wilkerson follows through to the very end where I was left realizing why Hasta Manana was such a great book (and title) and wanting to know when Wilkerson would deliver the sequel and second book in the Miriam Valencia series.

fast-paced border patrol thriller

In Southern California, Miriam Valenica could have been the poster girl of kids having kids as she gave birth when she was a teen. However, the paternal grandparents of her child raise Shaun as their own. Thus Shaun grew up as the brother to his biological father, Billy Rose.Miriam with the support of the Roses decides to inform Shaun on his sixteenth birthday that she is his mother and wants to spend time with him. However, just before he turned sixteen Shaun dies from illegal drugs. Billy blames drug dealer Mexican Joe. Miriam joins the US Border Patrol and completes her training before being assigned to Nogales, Arizona. The first time she meets Mexican Joe, he holds the weapons and she is illegally on his side of the border. Surprisingly he lets her go free. As she continues to thirst for vengeance, Miriam begins to see a different deadly side to Billy even as Mexican Joe rescues her again.Though the twists seem slightly off kilter, HASTA MANANA is a fast-paced border patrol thriller. The story line is action packed with Miriam fully developed so the audience appreciates her thirst for vengeance and her bewilderment between separating the good from the bad and the ugly. Carolyn Wilkerson furbishes a solid tale that hopefully will lead to more tales of the border patrol.Harriet Klausner