A Scarcity of Condors: 3 (Venery)

Juleón Jude Tholet has survival in his DNA. His father Cleon lived through imprisonment and torture during Pinochets military coup in Chile. His mother Penny risked everything to gain her husbands freedom and flee the country with their newborn son. But as a closeted gay teenager growing up in Vancouver Jude is targeted by a neighborhood bully called El Cóndor culminating in a vicious hate crime that forces the Tholets to flee their country again.Jude cautiously rebuilds his life in Seattle becoming an accomplished pianist but his his wings have been clipped and he cannot seem to soar in his relationships. Only family remains a constant source of strength and joy until a DNA test reveals something that shocks all the Tholets: Jude is not their child.Stunned by the test results the Tholets must dig into their painful past re-examine their lives in 1973 Santiago and the events surrounding Judes birth story. Its a tale rooted in South Americas Operation Condor. It spreads through Pinochets terrifying regime of detention camps torture disappeared civilians and stolen children. The journey forces Penny Tholet to confront the gaps in her memory while Cleon must re-live an ordeal hes long kept hidden away in a secret world. The tale ends with Jude digging through his genetic code in a quest to find his biological parents. Are they alive? Or are they among Los Desaparecidos--the Disappeared Ones?Suanne Laqueurs third book in the Venery series explores the desperate acts of love made in times of war and the many ways family can be defined.