Category: Suspense

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?

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

Inside Story

I found the first book in this series, Frasier Island, at the library and decided to give it a try. I’m so glad I did because I found another talented author. Since then, I have read Finding Marie and now, Inside Story. The characters in these stories are engaging and interesting to follow. I have also read and enjoyed a few other mysteries by Susan Page Davis, but this series is my favorite so far. The third novel, Inside Story, is about Claudia, Marie’s sister. She is a journalist and works for a magazine, Global Impact.

I love this story! The story is fun, suspenseful, and leaves me cheering for the main characters. Lieutenant Bill White is believable and easy to admire for his charitable work and dedication to the navy. Claudia is a risk taker and does whatever it takes to find and tell moving human interest stories. I don’t want to say too much and give away the story, but I think you’ll enjoy this one.

The story does make me wonder whether the U.S. Navy would authorize embedding a magazine correspondent with a secret mission unit after deployment, but this is minor and doesn’t detract from the story. The majority of the story takes place in the Philippine jungle. Marie, Pierre, Rachel, and George (characters from the earlier books) appear in this story to help Claudia, Bill, and Bill’s unit.

Whispers of the Bayou

Whispers of the Bayou is Mindy Starns Clark’s first standalone mystery. Her other series are worth reading, too. They are the Million Dollar Mysteries and The Smart Chick Mysteries.

Miranda Miller is raised by her aunt. She thinks that her family in Louisiana is not interested in her. Miranda doesn’t have that many memories of her childhood before living with her aunt. The past comes alive for her when she returns to Louisiana at the request of the caretaker of her grandparent’s estate, Willy Pedreaux. Miranda’s career in art restoration works its way nicely into the story. She is able to preserve most of the artwork her grandmother painted on walls in the family home. Miranda does find out about her family and the reason behind decisions that were made for her when she was a child.

I enjoyed this book. It had many twists and surprises. I didn’t want to write too much about the story and give away the ending. The characters are vivid and the conversations between characters are interesting. The author does list the parts of the story that are based on fact on her website, www.mindystarnsclark.com. If you haven’t read any books by this author, you should give this one a read. In my opinion, she writes as well as other Christian fiction authors like Melody Carlson, Robin Jones Gunn, Dee Henderson, Susan May Warren, and Terri Blackstock.

Audiobook:

Whispers of the Bayou