Cutting Loose far outdoes the previous book in this series, On the Loose. It's easier to understand what is going on as the story develops, and the setting - the United States rather than El Salvador - feels more convincing.

We previously met the hero of this story under the name Alejandro Campos in On the Loose. Despite being a drug runner, he was portrayed there as a good man. In Cutting Loose, we discover why.

Lily Robbins, found herself in the middle of an incident worthy of James Bond in the last book, watching an American pilot die as he pressed a macramé bracelet into her hand. When someone tries to kill her and Campos (who wants the bracelet) rescues her, she realizes that there is more afoot than she thought.

Campos, going by the name of Zachary Prade, flees the area with Lily in tow, and as they start a six-hour road trip, he finds he has support that he hadn’t previously expected. But can he and Lily keep themselves safe from the multiple groups who are after the bracelet - and can a rootless agent find his roots with Lily?

This was a good story and I liked both central characters. The believable relationship between the two likable central characters and the series of plausible events make Cutting Loose a good read. The author again sets up subsequent stories in this novel, and although I found the side-plot of Cherie getting lost underground a bit unlikely (plus her nerd mating ritual seems rather too stereotypical), this is a big improvement from the previous story.