The Governor's Wife by Mark Gimenez

Dying is a way of life on the border.

And if her true identity ever became known, she'd be dead before the sun again rose over the Rio Grande. But here in the colonias on the outskirts of Laredo, she was just the Angelo nurse who made house calls. Not that the residences qualified as houses. They were just shanties constructed of scrap material--plywood, sheet metal, cardboard, even discarded garage door--but they provided shelter from the hot sun if not the dry wind that blew in from the Chihuahuan Desert. It was early September, but it was still summer on the border. It was always summer on the border. 

The Governor's Wife by Mark Gimenez

Bode Bonner, the Governor of Texas is bored with life. He wants excitement. He aspires to become the President of US. His wife wants something more than just being the Governor's wife. She leaves him and secretly becomes a nurse in the border helping a doctor who was born in the colonia but educated in Harvard. The same border that touches Mexico. A Mexican drug lord wants Bode killed because he thinks Bode is responsible for the death of his wife. He hires killers but Bode escapes each time. He kidnaps the Governor's wife......

The novel is heavily political in the initial chapters. It speaks of illegal Mexicans. And much more. It is a good thriller. Bode might be a womanizer but he is in love with his wife. So he has to go and rescue her. He goes all alone heavily loaded with ammunition. The good doctor offers to help. Then we meet another character who to is out there to protect Bode.

The novel is fast paced, has lot of wit and totally enjoyable in the last half. I couldn't put it down.