Dead Heat

*** WARNING: This review contains spoilers. ***

Joel Rosenberg is a talented writer and his series is fast paced with a lot of action. I enjoyed all of the books in the series, so I was looking forward to reading Dead Heat (Political Thrillers, No. 5).

The story begins with 5 nuclear missiles being launched at the United States. Jon and Erin Bennett are in Jordan doing mission work while their home is being destroyed. Erin becomes very ill, and Jon is desperately trying to find out what’s wrong with her. Jon receives a mysterious phone call telling him that something awful is about to happen to the United States and he can prevent the next series of terrible events. The unidentified caller says he will call him again.

The President of the United States is killed in the attacks (along with most of the Congress), and Vice President Oaks in inaugurated as President. President Oaks calls on Jon for advice as most of his staff is dead. About half way through the book, Rosenberg lost me. (*Spoiler alert*) One of the main characters dies. I know this happens in a lot of stories, but this one really bugged me. I started skimming the story and found out that another main character dies. I couldn’t finish the book. I had connected with the characters and was cheering for them. I realize the author’s thinking is that the characters have the ultimate victory, meeting Jesus. However, in action stories, I expect the main characters to triumph on earth despite the odds against them.

Don’t let this review prevent you from reading the series, though. If main characters dying bugs you too, then skip the last book. It’s well written and enjoyable. The first book is the Last Jihad even though CBD lists it as the third. Here’s the order:
The Last Jihad (Political Thrillers Series #1)
The Last Days (Political Thrillers Series #2)
The Ezekiel Option (Political Thrillers Series #3)
The Copper Scroll (Political Thrillers Series #4)
Dead Heat (Political Thrillers, No. 5)

Dead HeatJoel’s series has received a lot of attention due to his uncanny ability to write situations that echo today’s current events before they occur. Here’s a short description of this first book taken from his web site www.joelrosenberg.com. A description of all of his books and more information about Joel is there.

“The first page of his first novel-The Last Jihad-puts you inside the cockpit of a hijacked jet, coming in on a kamikaze attack into an American city, which leads to a war with Saddam Hussein over weapons of mass destruction. Yet it was written before 9/11, long before the actual war with Iraq.”

Anyone have any comments? How do you feel when one or more main characters die? Does it depend on the genre or the way the story is told?

Lonestar Sanctuary

I finished reading Lonestar Sanctuary by Colleen Coble.  It is a good read, and I’m glad to see the next two books in this series will be out in short order.  The story is about Allie and her 5 year old daughter, Betsy, hasn’t spoken a word in a year since she witnessed a traumatic event.  Rick Bailey, the foreman at the Lonestar Ranch, served in Iraq with Allie’s late husband.  Allie turns to Rick for assistance.

Eleven Encouraging E-Courses

Do you love learning?  The Internet is packed with interesting e-courses.  You can learn to do almost anything.  It can be overwhelming, so I thought I would share a list of e-courses that I know actually deliver what they say they will deliver.  Many of them have a time period where you can request a full refund if you don’t find the course to be what you had in mind.

Abomination

If you’ve read the other books in the Rock Harbor series by Colleen Coble, you’ll be glad that this book, Abomination, allows you to once again follow Bree and her dog Samson again in the town of Rock Harbor. Bree is helping a distressed woman who has amnesia try to figure out who she is and who attacked her. She thinks her name is Elena because she is wearing a necklace with that name engraved on the back of it. She has a two year old daughter, Kerri, with her, but she can’t remember giving birth to her. Bree and her husband, Nick, give Elena and Kerri shelter and food as long as they need it.

The police in Rock Harbor start working with the Michigan state police to solve a series of murders. All the murders have the same pattern and the women are found with body parts missing. Elena realizes that she escaped the murderer and that he is still after her.

I enjoyed the story. Colleen Coble is a gifted writer and her stories are usually very interesting. I prefer authors not to tell the story from the criminal’s point of view, but with this story, I can see how it helps. Abomination is not too graphic or gory, but it is disturbing. It’s hard to understand how anyone can kill so many people and feel no remorse.

This is the series that inspired me to visit the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. That and the advice of some of our friends at church. Abomination makes a few references to Lake Superior being the best lake. I quite agree. The water is so blue and there is a nice beach on the grounds of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. The grounds also house the Whitefish Point lighthouse. You can enjoy a great tasting pasty like Nick did in this story. Visiting the Shipwreck Museum was so much fun!

If you read this story and like it, check out all the Rock Harbor books!

Without a Trace (Rock Harbor Series #1)
Beyond a Doubt (Rock Harbor Series #2)
Into the Deep (Rock Harbor Series #3)
Abomination

Sisterchicks Go Brit!

Well, I’ve taken quite a vacation from this blog. Part of my vacation was time I spent in Prince Edward Island, Canada (2 weeks) and the rest I just haven’t been writing. Speaking of vacations, I did enjoy reading the new Sisterchick novel, Sisterchicks Go Brit! (Sisterchicks Series #7). If you haven’t discovered this series yet, you’re in for a treat. These fun books can be read in any order as each novel has new characters. Robin Jones Gunn is a talented author, and she makes you feel like you are traveling with the sisterchicks (see my Sisterchicks in Gondolas review).

I have been to London, England once, so it was nice to read about some of the places I visited in 2001. Kellie and Liz are given airline tickets to visit England by Opal. Kellie, who is trying to start an interior design business, offers to decorate Opal’s apartment. Liz helps Kellie and mentions that she has always wanted to visit England. Opal wants to return to Olney, England to visit her sister so she gives Kellie and Liz the tickets as payment. Kellie and Liz do spend some time in Olney when they first arrive, but after a few days leave to explore England on their own. Liz just can’t wait to see Big Ben. The plans don’t quite go as expected, but Liz and Kellie see that God has other plans for their vacation. I like the way Kellie and Liz allow events to happen and aren’t too uptight about their vacation plans changing. They explore Oxford and Exeter College as well as London. They were able to see more than they had planned. On the way to Windsor castle, they met a young lady from France, Annette, who was traveling alone. They invited her to join them and immediately connected. After spending the day together, Annette invited them both to visit her in France.

The story flows well and puts you in the mood to have an adventure of your own. I’m glad I read it before going on my trip! We made friends with a couple the first time Sean and I visited Prince Edward Island. It was an instant connection like Robin Jones Gunn described when they met Annette. We have kept in touch over the years. They have discussed coming to visit us sometime, too. I felt like God did guide our trip, too. I was wishing we could see the talented fiddle player that we saw on our first visit to PEI in 1995. He went on to travel and play all over the world. We have been listening to his CDs, but haven’t seen Richard Wood in person since that first island visit. He was going to be playing before we arrived and after we left the island. We were strolling through the Charottetown area with our friends, and a couple of guys were playing music on small stage. One of the gentlemen starts playing on a fiddle and our friend says, “That’s Richard Wood.” I felt so blessed to be able to hear him play again.

I would love to hear about your vacation. Did you feel God directing your vacation? Did you instantly connect and make a new friend or friends?

Deadly Exposure

I read the Steeple Hill Love Inspired series often, and naturally, I like their suspense line of stories. They release four a month. These books are good for a fast, interesting read. I just finished reading one of the books for May 2008. Cara Putnam kindly sent me her book to read and review.

Deadly Exposure (Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense #102) starts with a murder at a theater. News reporter Dani Richards happened to be at the theater that night with her aunt. While trying to deal with her distress at finding a college student she knows dead, Dani also finds herself being questioned by her ex-boyfriend and police officer Caleb Jamison. He broke her heart years ago and hadn’t heard from him in ten years. Dani does some investigating of her own against the wishes of Caleb, who is trying his best to protect her from threatening phone calls and damage to her car and home.

Both of the main characters are easy to like. Caleb’s persistence in trying to solve the case and protect Dani shows his true devotion to Dani even though he treated her poorly in the past. Dani struggles with her past and searches for God while she also tries to solve the case. I appreciate the way that Cara Putnam resolves the problems of this frustrated couple.

The Convenient Groom

This week’s post is more light-hearted. I enjoyed this story so much that it only took me 3-4 hours to read it. It’s the story of a relationship adviser that has trouble following her own advice. It does follow Surrender Bay (Nantucket Love Story Series #1), but is a stand-alone story. Denise Hunter’s pleasurable tale, The Convenient Groom (Nantucket Love Story Series #2), gives you a wonderful feeling that stays with you long after you finish reading the book.

Kate Lawrence gives relationship advice and is getting ready to showcase her own wedding to the perfect man. Then, her fiance calls to break up with her a few hours before the wedding. Lucas Wright, who had just put the finishing touches on a gazebo he made for the wedding, overhears the conversation. He offers to marry her to save her from the media disaster of having to announce that the wedding is canceled. Lucas has reasons for offering to marry Kate, one he share with her and one he doesn’t.

Each chapter starts with a quote from Kate’s book. This was a fun book to read. The characters were lovable. Lucas has so much patience with Kate and treats her like a queen. His character moves the story along and makes it so endearing.

Update: This book was made into a Hallmark movie!  I thought it was true to the book and enjoyable to watch. Please let me know if you’ve seen it and what you think.

 

My Heart Remembers

This is the first book I’ve read by Kim Vogel Sawyer, and I’m very impressed. My Heart Remembers was an easy, enjoyable read. I would gladly read another book by Kim Vogel Sawyer.

The basic story is Maelle, the oldest child in her family, is asked by her Da to take care of her brother and sister during the fire that burnt down their apartment. Her Da went back in to gather some more belongings and bring his wife out with him, but they never made it. Maelle is alone in New York with her brother Matthew and infant sister, Molly when a policeman finds them and takes them to an orphanage. The lady in charge of the orphange places them on an orphan train bound to Missouri. Here the three children are taken by three different families. Seventeen years later, Maelle is still searching for Matthew and Molly. She heads back to Missouri in the spring of 1903 hoping that she will find them.

Get Cozy, Josey

I’ve enjoyed reading this series by Susan May Warren and hope she will continue to write about Josey. Get Cozy, Josey is the third book in the series. The first book, Everything is Coming Up Josey, follows Josey as she moves to Russia as a missionary. The second book, Chill out, Josey!, is about her married life as she continues to live and minister to the people in Russia. The third book continues her story as she moves her family to Siberia, mostly to support her husband. She ends up making many friends and reaching out to the women of the village.

I like Josey because I can identify with her. She is insecure about herself, but trusts God to help her. She is braver than I am, though. I don’t think I would be willing to do without indoor plumbing! I admire her dedication to her husband. She moves to Siberia because he’s excited about it, and when his excitement wanes, Josey encourages him. Josey does have to prove to the town and her husband that’s she’s been faithful, but you’ll have to read to find out why.