Force of Will by John Rauenhorst

About the book

FORCE OF WILL is an 80,000 word (271 page) action-adventure novel set in the United States and Venezuela. It is the story of Ken Johnson, a fifty-nine-year-old physician and Holly Gonzalez, a thirty-eight-year-old Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer.

Ken served in the Air Force in Vietnam as a flight surgeon. Following Vietnam, he worked for five years as the military attaché at the U.S. embassy in Caracas, Venezuela. Holly came to the United States from Cuba at the age of ten. She has served in the CIA for thirteen years.

At the beginning of the adventure, two CIA officers, on a mission in Venezuela, have disappeared. Holly is given the job of finding the officers. Because of his knowledge of Venezuela and his reputation for solving difficult problems, Ken is recruited to accompany her. Their cover is that of a married couple on their honeymoon.

Holly and Ken spend a week at a CIA training facility in Maryland. One night Ken has a nightmare. His shouting, during the nightmare, awakens Holly. Ken tells her about his experiences in Vietnam. He was alone, in enemy territory, for twenty-eight days.

Holly, in turn, tells Ken about her family's emigration to the United States from Cuba, their difficulty in adjusting, her parent's divorce, her beginning interest in martial arts, her difficulty in finding the right mate, and her daughter.

Holly and Ken arrive in Venezuela after the briefing. They meet with friends and acquaintances of Ken. These include a physician in Caracas, a retired oil executive, a rancher in the central plains, a governor of a state, and an ex-Peace Corps couple. Each of these people provides a piece of the puzzle.

In the coastal city of Maracaibo, Holly and Ken are attacked by the suspects they have been observing. Holly's martial arts skills enable them to escape. Following further confrontations, a clue, found on the body of one of their foes, leads to the missing officers. Holly and Ken are nearly captured, but a change in roles allows them access to the captives and the officers are freed.

The story ends at the Annex, where the training began. After their debriefing, Holly tells Ken that she will be taking some vacation and invites him to come to Florida to help celebrate her daughter's sixteenth birthday. Ken accepts the invitation.

About the author

John Rauenhorst is a physician. He has practiced general medicine and psychiatry for thirty-four years. He served in the U.S. Public Health service. For two years he was assigned to the U.S. embassy in Caracas Venezuela. He spent thirteen years in the Air Force reserves where he was a flight surgeon and, later, the commander of the 934th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron.

In his spare time he hunts large and small game, fishes trout, makes use of his private pilot's license and scuba certificate, and manages a tree farm. He lives in Shoreview, Minnesota with his wife of thirty-four years. His three children live in the metropolitan area.