Cut and Run begins with Roland Larson, a U.S. Marshall assigned to protect Hope Stevens.  Hope has information that could bring down a large mafia organization run by the Romeros including the Romeros themselves.  Against all the U.S. Marshall rules, Roland and Hope have developed an emotional relationship.  On their forty-first day together, Hope asks Roland to cut and run with her.  Taking Roland off guard, he does not react quickly enough to get the ball rolling and before the night is out Hope has disappeared into the system and they will not give Roland any information to try to locate her.

It is now nearly six years later and the one Romero that was convicted with another witness, is coming up for parole.  Hope dropped out of the Witness Protection Program several years earlier when another witness she knew was brutally murdered.  Roland has spent his free time since Hope's disappearance attending Shakespeare plays and festivals, knowing of Hope's weakness for them, in the hope that he will be able to find her.

Just as he is attending one of these plays, he is pulled out by two men for his latest assignment.  Uncle Leo is missing and Roland and his elite squad are put on the mission to find him.  Uncle Leo is the programmer who developed the Witness Protection database.  All of this has to be kept very quiet as not only are thousands of witnesses and their families are at risk and could result in a blood bath but this also puts Hope once again at a greater risk.

Even when witnesses leave the program, there is a ton of information on them and the program still tries to keep tabs on where they might be.  And it also appears that the Romeros are behind the kidnapping of Uncle Leo, as his assistant left dead at the scene has the signature cut mark left by one of the Romero's known killers.

Now the race begins for Roland and his team to find Hope, her daughter and Uncle Leo before the Romeros are able to get the data unencrypted from the database, go after Hope for themselves and sell off the rest of the list to other mafia organizations to the highest bidder.

This was a fast paced read that I was unable to put down.  All the characters were quite interesting and it gave one some insight as to what it might be like to be placed in the program, being constantly alone and away from everything familiar to you including friends and family and to live in a constant state of fear.  I would highly recommend this book.

REVIEWED BY GINA METZ

DO NOT REPRINT WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE REVIEWER, GINA METZ