Nate: The Search by Dorothy May Mercer opens with a concise and interesting prologue that explains how Nate lost his daughter, stolen by her surrogate mother, and later his wife to depression and cancer. Nate, secretly a Federal Air Marshall, remarries and has a family. When the story opens they are late teens, but he never forgets Sally, his first daughter, and is determined to find her. Sally, unaware of her strange history, took out loans; her single mom couldn’t afford to put her through college. Now, she’s working as a senior flight attendant, and something shady on the side. She plans to stop when the loans are paid back, but will she? Will Nate find his lost daughter in time to save her or die in the attempt?

Dorothy May Mercer draws the reader into both Nate's and Sally’s lives very cleverly. Nate’s second family is vividly alive, whilst Sally’s mother has dementia and lives in a care home, yet their lives run in a strange opposing parallel. Federal Air Marshal Nate Goodrich travels frequently by air on the lookout for trouble, and Sally works not just Alaska Airlines, but the passengers for her own profit. Nate is on the trail of an Al Qaeda plot to sabotage aircraft in the making, and Sally acts for a mysterious agency. The plot twists and turns in true thriller style yet remains strongly character-driven with a large, memorable cast. Nate: The Search is a sparkling five-star story I enjoyed a lot, mystified and firmly hooked.

Nate: The Search by Dorothy May Mercer is a gripping story of loss and a man’s relentless search for his long lost daughter. Because of an operation for cancer, Ethel Goodrich couldn’t conceive anymore, but the doctor is able to harvest some of her eggs. After saving a lot of money, Nate and Ethel enlist the services of an agency that helps them get a surrogate mother to carry their baby in her womb. It is with excitement, after long months of waiting, that the couple comes to the hospital to bring home their baby, but the news that awaits them is devastating. The baby is gone and there is nothing they can do. Nate recovers from the loss, but not his wife, who eventually dies. Years have rolled by and he has settled into a new family, but the thoughts of his first baby can’t leave him. Is he ready to find out and where can he start? What would happen if he finally met Sally Miller? That’s for the reader to discover.

Dorothy May Mercer has crafted a powerful story with a strong conflict and an engaging plot. I was pulled into the narrative right off the bat, thanks to the dramatic opening and the emotional intensity of the narrative. The reader gets to follow a couple doomed not to have children naturally, but has decided to make a miracle happen. The pacing is fast and the writing is interspersed with lively, engaging, and plot-driven dialogues. Nate: The Search is surprisingly delightful, the kind of story I haven’t had the chance to read in a long while. It’s original, expertly written, and engrossing, with characters that will stay with readers for a long time after they are done reading.