Crisis, Pursued by Disaster, Followed Closely by Catastrophe: A Memoir of Life on the Run

Mike O'Connor

Mas 2009 · Kuthengiswe ngu-Random House

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Throughout his childhood, Mike O’Connor’s family pretended to be normal. But Mike and his two younger sisters knew that their parents were hiding something–a secret they didn’t dare talk about. The family appeared to be no different from any of their small-town Texas neighbors–that is, until suddenly, the O’Connor’s would flee, leaving with only a few hours’ notice, abandoning houses and pets and possessions and running across the border to Mexico.

For all of Mike’s adolescence, O’Connor family life alternated between relative comfort and abject poverty–sometimes within a matter of days. From living in a Texas ranch house to living in two rented rooms in an impoverished Mexican village, the O’Connors never knew what lay ahead–only that they must not draw attention to themselves. Though their parents steadfastly denied it, the children knew that something was chasing them–a past that hovered like an invisible enemy, always waiting to strike, always in pursuit.

But it was not until much later, after his parents’ deaths, that Mike O’Connor, now an investigative reporter, was able to uncover the truth about his family’s past. As the secrets were unlocked one by one and the long trail of deception unfurled, Mike faced the heart-wrenching ramifications of his parents’ actions–and made a discovery that shook his family loyalty to its core.

Full of incredible details of a life lived on both sides of the border, in near-poverty and near-wealth, Mike O’Connor’s account is a real-life suspense story of childhood mysteries and strange circumstances that will enthrall readers to its very end.

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Mike O’Connor covered the Palestinian-Israeli conflict for NPR, and the former Yugoslavia and Central America for The New York Times and NPR. He earned an Overseas Press Club award for his reporting from Haiti and other awards for his coverage of garment sweat shops in Los Angeles. He covered Latin America for CBS News and was a television reporter in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. He now lives in Italy, where he is a full-time writer.