Today is my turn to share my Feature Post and Book Review for NOBODY’S AGENT (Ronin Nash Thriller Book #1) by Stuart Field on Overview Media Nobody’s Agent Blog Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review and the author’s bio. Enjoy!
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Book Description
In the Small town of Finchley, upstate New York, three bodies are discovered in an old mine. Soon after, Sheriff Doug Harrison contacts the FBI for help.
Ronin Nash is an ex-FBI special agent who wanted nothing more than to finish restoring the old family lake house. Now, Nash’s old boss wants him back and on the Finchley case.
Nash takes the job and travels to Finchley expecting to solve the case quickly, but it turns out that things are not not as clear-cut as he thought. Someone in the small town has a secret, and they’re willing to go to any lengths to protect it.
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
NOBODY’S AGENT (Ronin Nash Thrillers Book #1) by Stuart Field is an exciting and captivating start to a new thriller series featuring an unconventional ex-FBI agent. The main character and crime plot grabbed me from page one.
After a case ends badly, FBI agent Ronin Nash resigns and heads off to his family’s cabin on a lake in the woods, but after a year his former boss comes to ask him to return for one special case for the new IIB (Interagency Investigation Bureau). Reluctant, but with a mind that is always intrigued with mysteries, Ronin accepts.
Finchley is a small town in upstate New York. After the sheriff discovers three bodies in an old, abandoned mine, he notifies the FBI for their assistance. This is the case Ronin is to investigate. Hopefully, it will be one day there and then he can either dismiss it back to local law enforcement or discover reasons for the FBI to take the case. A local reporter is missing, and an unidentified dead body is discovered in the old clothing factory. Ronin is learning this small town is full of secrets that could end up getting him killed.
I loved Ronin. He is the type of main character I love to find in thrillers with his intelligence, unique personality, and style. He puts all the evidence together while others underestimate his abilities. The secondary characters were believable, and I especially enjoyed Ronin’s dad, Mac. The dialogue between the two made for some lighter moments. The plot moves at a fast pace throughout the story with many surprising twists along the way. Mr. Field has a writing style that allowed me to fall right into this story and not want to stop reading until the resolution. I am very glad this is a series, and I will be anxiously waiting for the next Ronin Nash thriller.
I highly recommend this new thriller!
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Author Bio
Stuart Field is a British Army veteran who now works in security after serving twenty-two years in the British Army. As well as working full time he writes in his spare time. Stuart was born and raised in the West Midlands in the UK. His love for travel has been an inspiration in some of his work with his John Steel and Ronin Nash thriller series. As well as future John Steel novels, Stuart is working on a new series and standalone novels.
New York Times bestselling author Lisa Black launches a pulse-pounding new series with a taut, compelling forensic thriller that introduces Dr. Ellie Carr and Dr. Rachael Davies, who must combine their expertise to solve deadly crimes . . .
When D.C. crime scene analyst Dr. Ellie Carr is called to investigate the heartrending case of a missing baby, she’s shocked to discover that the child’s mother is her own cousin. Close during their impoverished childhoods, Ellie and Rebecca eventually drifted apart. Rebecca is now half of a Washington power couple, and she and her wealthy lobbyist husband, Hunter, have been living a charmed life in an opulent mansion—until their infant son is taken.
“Every contact leaves a trace.” That’s the basic principle of forensic science followed by pathologist Dr. Rachael Davies. A reluctant Ellie is teamed with Rachael, employed by Hunter to help with the investigation. Rachael is assistant dean at the prestigious Locard Forensic Institute, named in honor of the French criminologist who inspired the profession. But in this case, discovering where those traces lead quickly becomes a dangerous journey through a web of greed and deadly ambition.
At first antagonists, then allies, Ellie and Rachael race to find the baby alive and bring the kidnappers to justice. What seemed like a simple ransom grab reveals links to a lobbying effort to loosen regulations on a billion-dollar gaming empire. Unless they can piece together the evidence before the Senate hearing, Rebecca’s son—and others like him—will face an unthinkable fate . . .
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Elise’s Thoughts
Red Flags by Lisa Black combines a clever mystery with a forensic thriller. This first in the series introduces Dr. Ellie Carr, part of the FBI’s evidence response team, with Dr. Rachel Davies, a pathologist at the private forensics’ lab, Locard Institute. Having a forensic background herself, the author Black weaves her own professional experience into the plot, making it a realistic story.
Dr. Ellie Carr is called to investigate the vanishing of 4-month-old Mason Carlisle, who disappeared without a trace. The baby’s dad, Hunter, owns a lobbying firm, while the mother, Rebecca is a policy adviser to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ellie cannot believe it when she discovers that Rebecca is a cousin whom she was close with as a child but has not seen in more than fifteen years. Thinking that she should recuse herself, Ellie finds out that she is staying on the case. By leaving her in an official capacity she wonders if the FBI wants her to be a spy or a scapegoat since Rebecca and Hunter are suspects.
To make matters worse, Hunter decides to have Dr. Rachael Davies, a pathologist with the Locard Institute join in the investigation. At first, Rachael and Ellie were standoffish towards each other, but slowly a friendship develops as they begin to rely on each other. After the parents of Hunter’s co-workers also have their children kidnapped it becomes a race against time to bring back the children alive. It seems that the Carlisles’ professions and their involvement in a gaming industry become the clues from which Rachael and Ellie begin to unwind the investigation.
As the pages are turned the tension rises. The investigation is interesting and the detail about forensics is a bonus. The twists offer different red herrings to keep readers guessing.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Is this the first in a new series?
Lisa Black: I planned this as a series. For my other series, I thought to write one book and then it grew into a series when the publisher wants more. This one I planned it so my characters would have a lot of background, direction, personal issues, and a set-up where they would not be tied up in one city since I love to travel. My past two series were set in Cleveland.
EC: What about the Locard Institute?
LB: A private institute that does training, research and private cases regarding forensic cases, anything from ballistics to DNA analysis. They can go to different places including internationally. They investigate extortion, kidnapping, and murder. I like to have different crimes occur. I am fascinated with white collar crime like extortion, con men, and fraud.
EC: How would you describe Ellie?
LB: She is a crime scene specialist. But in this case, she finds out that part of this very wealthy family includes her cousin with whom she lived for a time when she was young. They were as close as sisters. She is very much at loose ends. After her mother died, she lived with her grandmother, then an aunt/uncle with some cousins, and was moved to other aunts/uncles. She was always loved and well cared for, but a lot of moving around for a child, forcing her to act like a guest. Now she is recently divorced with her ex-husband as her boss. Ellie is detailed, does not like to make waves, and is not pushy. She tries to make herself invincible, not front and center.
EC: How would you describe Rachael, the assistant director of the Locard Institute?
LB: She is a lot more stable than Ellie. After her sister died, she and her mother are raising her 2-year-old nephew. Her life outside of her family is the Locard Institute. She is an observer, confidant, patient, tries to keep a neutral face, and smoother than Ellie in working with people.
EC: Did your professional experience help you to write these stories?
LB: As a forensic scientist at the Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office, I have analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood, and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now I am a latent print examiner and certified crime analyst for the Cape Coral Police Department in Florida, working mostly with fingerprints and crime scenes. Some organizations I belong to are the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the International Association for Identification, and the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts. I know what happens at a crime scene, what realistically would happen. The police officer, the detective, the forensic personal, and the pathologist, each have a distinct skill. The FBI does cooperate with the local police, but there are jurisdictional issues.
EC: You explain the different emotions of victims?
LB: You are referring to this quote, “Victims could ping-pong back and forth between despair and seeming normality, sobbing with deep animal cries one minute and making a joke the next, transitioning through three extreme emotions in the span of one sentence.” There are all sorts of different responses of people in crime scenes. Sometimes they have a horrible scream. Two people in the same family in the same house can have different emotions. I went to a burglary once; the mother was sobbing like her heart was broken.
EC: On-line gaming plays a crucial role in this story? I thought of the Brad Paisley song, “online.”
LB: Yes. I thought how anyone can say anything on the Internet. A pedophile can be in a chat room pretending to be a fourteen-year-old. This is every mother’s worst nightmare. Now it is required for a parent to put all this personal information in so their child can play a game. I thought what is happening to all this information. Is it being data mined or is your child being targeted by advertising? Games are designed to keep children playing, literally addicting bordering on psychological manipulation. Children can buy accessories within this game like weapons or costumes. Actor Jack Black’s eight-year-old son ran up $7,000. The game itself is free, but it’s the in-app purchases that make the money. There are congressional hearings that try to come up with new regulations.
EC: Next book?
LB: The title is What Harms You, out next August. It is book two. The Locard Institute offers training for law enforcement personnel. The story has a serial killer going to this CSI School, the Locard Institute. The serial killer learns information so as not to get caught.
THANK YOU!!
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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles are plagued by what seems like a completely senseless murder. Sofia Suarez, a widow and nurse who was universally liked by all her neighbors, lies bludgeoned to death in her own home. But anything can happen behind closed doors, and Sofia seemed to have plenty of secrets in her last days, making covert phone calls to old contacts and traceless burner phones. When Jane finally makes a connection between Sofia and the victim of a hit-and-run months earlier, the case only grows more blurry. What exactly was Sofia involved in? One thing is clear: The killer will do anything it takes to keep their secret safe.
Meanwhile, Angela Rizzoli hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep in all the years since her daughter became a homicide detective. Maybe the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree. Nothing in her neighborhood gets by Angela – not the gossip about a runaway teenager down the block and definitely not the strange neighbors who have just moved in across the street. Angela’s sure there’s no such thing as coincidence in her sleepy suburb. If only Jane would listen; instead she writes off Angela’s concerns as the result of an overactive imagination. But Angela’s convinced there’s a real wolf in her vicinity, and her cries might now fall on deaf ears.
With so much happening on the Sofia case, Jane and Maura already struggle to see the forest for the trees, but will they lose sight of something sinister happening much closer to home?
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Elise’s Thoughts
Listen To Me by Tess Gerritsen brings back the beloved characters Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles in a new novel. A heads up for readers is that there are two storylines, both engrossing.
The plot has Rizzoli, her partner Barry Frost, and Maura investigating a series of puzzling events. The first has them wondering who killed Sofia Suarez, a nurse, brutally murdered. Then there is Amy Antrim a victim of a hit and run accident after she walked off the curb. What the investigators are wondering, is there a connection since Sophia was Amy’s nurse.
Then there is Jane’s mom Angela who is a typical caring mother. Now preoccupied because her lover, retired detective Vince Korsak, is in California caring for his sister, Angela has become the neighborhood’s busy body. But she too investigates some oddities in the neighborhood and becomes like daughter, like mother. There is a missing teenage runaway who the local police aren’t taking seriously, and a new couple that moved into the neighborhood. They are suspiciously keeping to themselves and there appears to be a lot of construction noises coming from the house. She is continually asking Jane to participate in the investigation to find out what is happening. Upset that Jane is not listening to her, Angela becomes the number one watcher of the neighborhood and starts her own investigation which leads to trouble for both her and Jane.
This story has humor, character personalities, and suspense. It is interesting how this intricate plot also details the lives of Jane, Maura, Angela, and Barry.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: The last Rizzoli & Isles book was I know A Secret in 2017.
Tess Gerritsen: Yes, it has been a while. I did have two books in the interim, but several years have passed. After I finished number twelve, I didn’t feel I was going to write anymore and thought the series would be over with the book, I know A Secret. I had other stories I wanted to tell.
EC: How did you get the idea for this story?
TG: Jane’s mom, Angela Rizzoli started to talk to me. I heard her say very clearly in her Boston accent “if you see something, say something.” The signs are in Boston’s Logan Airport. I thought, what is Angela seeing? It turned out this book is about the suburbs where people used to know everyone who lives in the neighborhood. Angela suddenly feels something is wrong. It was “Rear Window” but in the suburbs with Angela Rizzoli playing Jimmy Stewart’s role.
EC: These days it does not seem that there are anymore “neighborhoods?”
TG: This is true. Now a days everybody works with the houses empty during the day. When I grew up in a little suburban area of San Diego that was how it was. I had an auntie who was very snoopy, in everybody’s business. I kind of modeled Angela after her. In the past there were many more housewives and people at home. People knew their neighbors and had block parties. It is sad those days may not be true anymore.
EC: Which season did you like the best?
TG: I enjoy winter. It is my most creative time. I think winter can be a character, although not so much in this book. I like the sense of isolation. As a writer I don’t mind being shut up in my house for four months and not seeing anyone for a while. It is almost as if when everything gets less colorful, turning grey, white, and black, the colors bloom in my head. In the wintertime there is less of a distraction.
EC: Angela has had a rough go, but came out, OK?
TG: She is clever, a survivor. She has been battered in the last couple of years. Angela started in 2001 as a contented housewife, raising her children. Around book five her husband has left her for another woman. She suddenly finds herself without a career, husband, and living in the same suburban house by herself. She learns there is life beyond the first marriage. She did find love with a retired homicide detective, but now he is California caring for his sister. So, she has a little too much time on her hands.
EC: Does she feel like she has an empty nest?
TG: She does have a granddaughter, Jane’s daughter Regina whom she babysat until she attended pre-school. The one joy she has is cooking for her family. In one of the scenes, she has a big dinner, a giant Italian feast. Her life is her grandchild and cooking for people she loves.
EC: How would you describe Angela?
TG: She is a neighborhood snoop, a busybody, and will always be motherly to her children. She is kind and has a good heart. When she does get involved, it is to make sure no one gets hurt.
EC: There are two quotes about motherhood in this book. Please explain.
TG: You are referring, “No one wants to listen to their mother,” and “The burden of motherhood is that your children’s problems are your problems.” I raised two sons, and their problems are my problems. Even now if something is going wrong in their life, I try to think how I can help fix things. If I offer some advice, it does not mean they will listen. Mothers at ninety are going to worry about their seventy something children. It just never goes away.
EC: How would you describe Jane?
TG: She is courageous and competent. She is determined and thorough. Yet, Jane is having problems with her mother. She is honest, direct, impatient, sarcastic, a tomboy, and relentless.
EC: How is the relationship between Jane and her mom Angela?
TG: I think of Angela like my mom. I was at my mom’s house, going to a book signing, and wearing a St. John suit. I was then forty something years old. She looks at me and tells me, “Your skirt is too short.” I thought how children can never be perfect. This is what Jane is dealing with now. But Jane is partly at fault because she is not listening to her mother even though Angela has some very valid issues. I wanted to focus on the complications of her life, which has nothing to do with police work.
EC: How would you describe Maura?
TG: Maura and Jane are like salt and pepper. The showrunner for the TV show describes Jane and Maura as Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. She is very patient, and what drives her is her intellect. She is a pianist in a doctor’s orchestra. I just use my life as shorthand for Maura.
EC: How are you and Maura similar?
TG: I did grow up playing the piano. I also had the kind of car she drives, enjoy the kind of wine she drinks, we play the same instrument, and went to the same medical school. She is all from my life. In so many ways I identify with her. We are both self-contained. She is happy around dead people, while I am happy in my office. We are not the kind of people who feel comfortable in crowds and showing how imperfect we are.
EC: Maura has a relationship with a Priest, Daniel Brophy. Why did you do it?
TG: The Priest showed up in book number three, The Sinner. It was a book about murder in a convent. When I lived in Paris it was right around the corner from a seminary with young Priests in training. I kept thinking it is too bad for the sake of motherhood they are out of reach. I was also a big fan of the “The Thorn Birds” where Richard Chamberlain played this yummy Priest. It is about forbidden fruit. When the Priest came into the story, I thought that Maura and he would just have fond looks. But in book number four, Body Double, he was suddenly back, becoming the Priest for the Boston PD. The repeated contact between him and Maura led them to give in to a relationship. It is a constant struggle for both.
EC: Did you get any backlash?
TG: Yes. I get more notes about that relationship than anything else in the stories. They ask is he going to leave the Church and marry Maura? Will they have a happily ever after? Why is Maura so stupid to fall for a Priest, an unattainable man? We all know brilliant women who have fallen in love with the wrong man. It happens. As time has gone by, they come to an understanding that will satisfy them both.
EC: Will there be a TV show reunion based on this book?
TG: I do not think there is anything in the works for this to happen. I did have people ask to bring them back for a reunion, but it has not happened.
EC: Next book?
TG: It is not another Rizzoli and Isles book. The book is based on a little town I live in Maine. My husband and I found out that our neighborhood had these people who worked for the government but would not talk about it. They were all retired CIA. On our street we had retired CIA on one side and retired OSS on the other. It occurred that these retired spies would be a fun setting for a book with a dead body showing up in one of their driveways. It also has generational conflict since the young local police investigator does not realize who these grey-haired people are, and she completely disrespects them. The working title is Spyville, and hopefully will be out this time next year.
THANK YOU!!
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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Today I am Sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for EDGE OF DUSK by Colleen Coble on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links and a Kingsumo giveaway. Good luck on the giveaway and enjoy!
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Book Description
Even though secrets lie off the coast of Rock Harbor, the truth will set Annie Pederson free—if it doesn’t kill her first.
Nine-year-old Annie Pederson’s life changed the night her sister was kidnapped. The two had been outside playing on a dock, and Annie never forgave herself for her role in her sister’s disappearance. Twenty-four years later and now a law enforcement ranger, Annie is still searching for answers as she grieves a new loss: the death of her husband and parents in a boating accident.
But Annie and her eight-year-old daughter, Kylie, aren’t the only people in the town of Rock Harbor whose lives have been marred by tragedy. While managing the property around the Tremolo Resort and Marina she inherited, Annie discovers a dead body floating in the cold Superior surf and begins to work with the sheriff’s office to tie the death to a series of other mysterious reports in the area.
At the same time, her first love, Jon Dustan, returns after nine years away, reigniting the town’s memory of a cold case he’d been suspiciously linked to before he left to pursue his orthopedic residency. For the sake of her investigation and her heart, Annie tries to stay away. But avoiding Jon becomes impossible once Annie realizes she is being targeted by someone desperate to keep secrets from the past hidden.
In this new series, bestselling romantic-suspense author Colleen Coble returns to one of her most beloved towns, where familiar faces—and unsolved cases—await.
Genre: Romantic Suspense Published by: Thomas Nelson Publication Date: July 12th 2022 Number of Pages: 352 ISBN: 078525370X (ISBN13: 9780785253709) Series: Annie Pederson #1
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My Book Review
RATING: 3.5 out of 5 Stars
EDGE OF DUSK (An Annie Pederson Novel Book #1) by Colleen Coble is the start of a new suspense series featuring a female ranger with romantic and Christian elements. This book has some characters carried over from Ms. Coble’s other books set in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but I did not feel as though I needed any back story or was missing anything.
Annie Penderson was only nine-year-old when she and her younger sister, Laura were attacked as children. Annie was stabbed and left for dead while Laura was kidnapped from the dock of their Upper Peninsula home and never found. Twenty-four years later, Annie is a LEO ranger who still feels guilty for not protecting her sister and continues to search for her, while also being a single mother after the boating accident which killed both her husband and her parents.
While maintaining on the side the Tremolo Resort and Marina her parents left her, Annie finds a dead floating by the docks. It is the body of a missing hiking/camper, and he is not the first in the area to go missing.
At the same time, Dr. Jon Dustan returns to the area to sell his family’s summer cabin after his father’s stroke. Jon was Annie first love, but after a fight that tore them apart and suspicions from long ago tying him to two missing girls, he left the area for college. Annie wants to protect her heart, but when the missing girls’ bodies are discovered in an old cabin on the resort lands, it throws the two together again in hopes of solving the mystery once and for all.
This book has a lot happening in multiple plot lines. Some questions are answered in this book and others are set up to be continued in future books in the series. I liked the multiple mysteries and trying to figure out if they were connected or not. I did not feel the ending of the missing hikers/campers case was believable especially when you discover who else was complicit in the cover-up. I am interested enough to continue with the series to discover other solutions to the unsolved mysteries though. The Christian elements were minimal. The romantic elements had a few problems for me. I do not like when a misunderstanding lasts for almost an entire story, when the two supposed grown-ups can sit down and discuss their feelings sooner. This made it difficult for me to really connect with Annie and Jon who appear to be carrying this series forward.
Overall, this was an OK start to this new series. It has a few problems for me, but I do want to continue reading to discover where the cliff-hanger to one of the many mysteries leads.
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Excerpt
PROLOGUE
“WAS THAT THE WINDIGO?” NINE-YEAR-OLD ANNIE
Vitanen yanked her little sister’s hand to pull her to a stop in the deep shadows of the pines. Chills trickled down her spine, and she stared into the darkness. “Did you hear that?”
“It was just the loons,” Sarah said. “Daddy said there’s no such thing as the Windigo.”
Annie shuddered. “You’re only five—you don’t know that.” While at school she’d heard the story about the fifteen-foot- tall monster who ate humans. Annie peered into the shadows, searching for sunken red eyes in a stag skull staring back at her. The Windigo particularly liked little girls to fill its hungry belly. Sarah tugged her hand free. “Daddy said it was just an old Ojibwa legend. I want to see the loons.”
She took off down the needle-strewn path toward the water.
Annie’s heart seized in her throat. “Sarah, wait!”
Daddy had always told Annie she was responsible for her little sister, and she didn’t want to get in trouble when their parents found out they were out here in the dark. Sarah had begged to come out to see the loons, and Annie found it hard to say no to her. This was the first time they’d been to their little camp on Tremolo Island since the summer started, and it might be a long time before they had time to visit again. Daddy only brought them to get away when he had a lull at the marina. Annie loved it here, even if there wasn’t any power.
Her legs pumped and her breath whooshed in and out of her mouth. She emerged into the moonlight glimmering over Lake Superior. Her frantic gaze whipped around, first to make sure the Windigo hadn’t followed them, then to find her sister.
Sarah sat on the wooden dock with her legs dangling over the waves. Lightning flickered in the distance, and Annie smelled rain as it began to sprinkle. Clouds hung low over the water, and the darkness got thicker.
“We need to go back, Sarah.” While they could still find their way in the storm.
“I want to throw bread to the loons.” Sarah gave her a piece of the bread they’d gotten from the kitchen.
Annie jumped when the loon’s eerie yodel sounded. The oo-AH-ho sound was like no other waterfowl or bird. Normally she loved trying to determine whether the loon was yodeling, wailing, or calling, but right now she wanted to get her sister back into bed before they got in big trouble. They both knew better than to come down here by themselves. Mommy had warned them about the dangers more times than Annie could count.
She touched her sister’s shoulder. “Come on, Sarah.”
Sarah shrugged off her hand. “Just a minute. Look, the loon has a baby on its back.”
Annie had to see that. She threw in a couple of bread pieces and peered at the loons. “I’ve never seen that.”
“Me neither.”
The loons didn’t eat the bread, but she giggled when a big fish gulped down a piece right under their feet.
When she first heard the splashing, she thought it signaled more loons. But wait. Wasn’t that the sound of oars slapping the water? A figure in a dark hoodie sat in the canoe. Did the Windigo ride in a canoe?
The canoe bumped the dock, and a voice said, “Two to choose from. It doesn’t get much better than that.”
The voice was so cheerful, Annie wasn’t afraid. Before she could try to identify who it was, a hard hand grabbed her and dragged her into the canoe. “I think the younger one would be better.”
The sudden, sharp pain in Annie’s neck made her cry out, and she slapped her hand against her skin. Something wet and sticky clung to her fingers. In the next instant, she was in the icy water. The shock of the lake’s grip made her head go under.
She came up thrashing in panic and spitting water. Her legs wouldn’t kick very well, and she felt dizzy and disoriented. She tried to scream for Daddy, but her mouth wouldn’t work. Her neck hurt something awful, and she’d never felt so afraid.
She’d been right—it was the Windigo, and he meant to eat her sister.
“Sarah!” Annie’s voice sounded weak in her ears, and the storm was here with bigger waves churning around her. “Run!”
Her sister shrieked out her name, and Annie tried to move toward the sound, but a wave picked her up and tossed her against a piling supporting the dock. Her vision went dark, and she sank into the cold arms of the lake.
The next thing she knew, she was on her back, staring up into the rain pouring into her face. Her dad’s hand was on the awful pain in her neck, and her mother was screaming for Sarah.
She never saw her sister again.
ONE
TWENTY-FOUR YEARS LATER
LAW ENFORCEMENT RANGER ANNIE PEDERSON RUBBED
her eyes after staring at the computer screen for the past two hours. She’d closed the lid on an investigation into a hit-and-run in the Kitchigami Wilderness Preserve, and she’d spent the past few hours finishing paperwork. It had been a grueling case, and she was glad it was over.
“I’ll be right back,” she told her eight-year-old daughter, Kylie, sitting on the floor of her office playing Pokémon Go on her iPad.
Kylie’s blonde head, so like Annie’s own, bobbed, too intent to respond verbally.
Kade Matthews looked up when Annie entered his office. Over the past few years he’d moved up and become head ranger. Kade’s six-feet-tall stocky frame and solid muscles exuded competence, and his blue eyes conveyed caring. Annie thanked the Lord every day for such a good boss. He was understanding when she needed time off with Kylie, and he let her know he valued her work and expertise. “Ready for a few days off?”
“Really? With all this work on your shoulders?”
He nodded. “I can handle it. I know this is a busy time for you.”
“I do have a lot of work to do out at the marina.”
Since her parents and husband died two years ago, she’d been tasked with running the Tremolo Marina and Cabin Resort. She managed with seasonal help and lots of her free time, but summer was always grueling. It was only June 3, and the season was off to a good start.
He cleared his throat, and his eyes softened. “I’m glad you stopped in. I didn’t want to send this report without talking to you first.”
“What report?” Her tongue felt thick in her mouth because she knew the likely topic.
“A child’s remains were found down around St. Ignace.”
It didn’t matter that it was so far. That route could have easily been chosen by the kidnapper. It was a common way to travel from lower Michigan to the U.P. “How old?”
“Five or six, according to the forensic anthropologist. I assume you want your DNA sent over for comparison?”
“Yes, of course.”
They’d been through this scenario two other times since she’d begun searching for answers, and each time she’d teetered between hope and despair. While she wanted closure on what had happened to her sister, she wasn’t sure she was ready to let go of hope. Though logically she knew her sister had to be dead. People didn’t take children except for nefarious purposes. Annie didn’t know how she’d react when word finally came that Sarah had been found.
Relief? Depression? Maybe a combination of the two. Maybe even a tailspin that would unhinge her. All these years later, and she still couldn’t think about that night without breaking into a cold sweat. Avoidance had been her modus operandi. Not many even knew about the incident. Kade did, of course. And Bree. Jon too. Probably some of the townspeople remembered and talked about it, too, but it had been long ago. Twenty-four years ago.
Nearly a quarter of a century and yet just yesterday. “How long before results are back on DNA?”
“Probably just a few days. With children they try to move quickly. I’ll get it sent over. You doing okay?”
She gave a vigorous nod. “Sure, I’m fine. I’ll file this report and get these pictures sent to you.”
“Bree told me to ask if you wanted a puppy, one of Samson’s.
There’s a male that looks just like him.”
She smiled just thinking of her daughter’s delight. “Kylie has been begging for a puppy since we lost Belle. How much are they going for?”
The little terrier had died in her sleep a month ago at age sixteen, and they both missed her. Samson was a world-renowned search-and-rescue dog, and his pups wouldn’t come cheap. She ran through how much she had in savings. Maybe not enough.
“We get two free pups, and Bree told me she would give you one.” “You don’t want to do that,” she protested. “You’d be giving up a lot of money.”
He shrugged. “We have everything we need. Head over there in the next few days, and you can take him home with you before our kids get too attached and bar the front door.”
She laughed. “Hunter says he’s marrying Kylie, so I think he will stick up for her.”
Kade and Bree’s little boy was four and adored Kylie. She was good with kids, and she loved spending time with the Matthews twins.
“You’re right about that. I’ll let Bree know you want him. He’s a cute little pup.”
“What are you doing with the other one?” “Lauri has claimed her.”
Kade’s younger sister was gaining a reputation for search-and- rescue herself, and she already had a dog. “What about Zorro?”
“He’s developed diabetes, and Lauri knows he needs to slow down some. She wants a new puppy to train so Zorro can help work with him.”
“She might want the one that looks like Samson.” “She wants a female this time.”
She glanced at her watch and rose. “I’ll get out of here. Thanks again for the puppy. Kylie will be ecstatic.”
She went back to her office. “Time for your doctor appointment, Bug.”
Kylie made a face. “I don’t want to go.”
At eight, Kylie knew her own mind better than Annie knew hers most days. She was the spitting image of Annie at the same age: corn silk–colored hair and big blue eyes set in a heart-shaped face. But Annie had never been that sure of herself. Her dad’s constant criticism had knocked that out of her.
She steered her daughter out the brick office building to the red Volkswagen crew-cab truck in the parking lot, then set out for town.
The old truck banged and jolted its way across the potholes left by this year’s massive snowfall until Annie reached the paved road into town. She couldn’t imagine living anywhere other than where the Snow King ruled nine months of the year. There was no other place on earth like Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. With the Keweenaw Peninsula to the north and Ottawa National Forest to the south, there could be no more beautiful spot in the world. Her devotion to this place had cost her dearly nine years ago, but every time she saw the cold, crystal-clear waters of the northernmost Great Lakes stretching to the horizon, she managed to convince herself it was worth it.
Part of the town’s special flavor came from the setting. Surrounded by forests on three sides, it had all the natural beauty anyone could want. Old-growth forests, sparkling lakes where fish thronged, and the brilliant blue of that Big Sea Water along the east side.
They drove through town, down Negaunee to Houghton Street to the businesses that comprised Rock Harbor’s downtown. The small, quaint village had been built in the 1850s when copper was king, and its Victorian-style buildings had been carefully preserved by the residents.
Dr. Ben Eckright’s office was a remodeled Victorian boardinghouse on the corner of Houghton and Pepin Streets. She parked in his side lot and let Kylie out of the back.
She glanced across the street to the law office, and her breath caught at the man getting out of the car. It couldn’t be. She stared at the sight of a familiar set of shoulders and closed her eyes a moment. Opening them didn’t reassure her. It really was him.
Jon Dunstan stood beside a shiny red Jaguar. Luckily, he hadn’t seen her yet, and she grabbed Kylie’s hand and ran with her for the side door, praying he wouldn’t look this way. She was still trembling when the door shut behind her.
Excerpt from Edge of Dusk by Colleen Coble. Copyright 2022 by Colleen Coble. Reproduced with permission from Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
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Author Bio
Colleen Coble is a USA TODAY bestselling author best known for her coastal romantic suspense novels, including The Inn at Ocean’s Edge, Twilight at Blueberry Barrens, and the Lavender Tides, Sunset Cove, Hope Beach, and Rock Harbor series.
Hostage rescue expert Jonathan Grave and his fellow special-ops veteran, Boxers, are hunting in Montana when shots ring out, and they realize they’ve become the prey for assassins. In the crosshairs of unseen shooters, cut off from all communication, with the wind at a blood-freezing chill, the nightmare is just beginning. Because Jonathan and Boxers aren’t the only ones under fire.
Back in Fisherman’s Cove, Virginia, Jonathan’s Security Solutions team is fighting for their lives too. A vicious onslaught is clearing the way for a much bigger game by eliminating anyone in the way. If Jonathan and Boxers can make it out of the wilderness alive, the real war will begin.
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Elise’s Thoughts
Lethal Game by John Gilstrap will remind readers of another thriller writer. Gilstrap has a lot in common with Vince Flynn besides a fantastic, formidable character named Irene. They both have great suspenseful plots with plenty of action, emotion, and gun fights, as well as very well-developed characters who make up the team. This is Part I and Part II will delve into the books that introduced the characters.
This plot turns the usual story on its head with the hunters becoming the hunted and the team needing to rescue themselves. The crew of Gail Bonneville, Venice Alexander, Jonathan Grave, Brian Van Muelebroecke (Boxers), and Irene Rivers, must find out who is sending assassins. Usually, the team of covert hostage rescuers finds the kidnapped victim with the bad guys having their demise. But in this case Jonathan and Boxers, while hunting in Montana, are the targets. That attack is coordinated with attacks home in Fisherman’s Cove, Virginia where Gail and Venice are also fired upon. The enemy is unknown but it’s clear they want revenge and will go to great lengths to destroy everyone on the team. The four, while investigating, know they must transition from defense to offense and take the fight right to the enemy. Readers are able to get into the minds of the characters, feeling as if they are being spoken to themselves.
In this series, readers should not expect innocents to escape the violence. Elderly characters and children are put in harm’s way and do not escape with their lives. The bad guys are cartel members and just as in real life Gilstrap shows the intensity of violence where they have feelings of anger, disgust, and contempt.
This plot is fast-paced, engrossing, and intriguing. If this book is someone’s first introduction into the series, they will realize what they have been missing and want to read the earlier novels. It is written as a stand-alone so no one will have any trouble keeping up.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the series?
John Gilstrap: This is the 14th book in the series with the same characters, and it will not end anytime soon. The idea for the series came from a non-fiction book I wrote, Six Minutes to Freedom back in 2006. I had extraordinary access and did a lot of research about the Special Forces Delta Force group. I then decided to write a fictional book with a group that does the hostage rescue domestically. I stay in the Western Hemisphere for the team, with the cartels as the bad guys.
EC: Can you tell us a little something about the non-fiction book?
JG: Kurt Muse in the late 1980s did a clandestine radio campaign urging the people of Panama to rise for freedom. He was subsequently arrested, imprisoned, and rescued by the elite Delta Force. After the US invaded Panama, they rescued him from the prison where Manuel Noriega held him as a political prisoner.
EC: Did your professional experience help you to write the series?
JG: For fifteen years I was a firefighter and EMT. We had a very good sense of camaraderie and mission. We wanted to make sure the mission was accomplished quickly, efficiently, safely, with as many lives saved. This focus was built into me, which I gave my characters. I want to show in the books how violence is real and happens with blistering speed that has devastating consequences, which is why there are civilian collateral damage.
EC: Are you a hunter considering there are details about hunting?
JG: I am recently a hunter, having moved to West Virginia. I hunt deers and hogs. The look and feel for hunting is from personal experience.
EC: How did you get the idea for this story?
JQ: It occurred to me on a hunting trip. I was in a shed waiting for a hog to come by. I sat for a long time and just was thinking. I realized how vulnerable I was if someone wanted to hunt me while I was hunting an animal. This was the beginning of the plot where someone was hunting for Jonathan and the team, with the rest of the book solving the question, who and why were they hunting the group? In the previous book, Stealth Attack, I opened the door for why they were being hunted.
EC: How would you describe the team?
JG: Gail is the adult in the room. Boxer is the violent one. Jonathan is the thinker. Venice is the computer hacker with many skills. They share a very strong ethical and moral standard that centers around justice. Good and bad for them is not defined as legal and illegal. They have a passion for the mission. They are all gutsy, loyal, intelligent, feisty, adrenaline junkies, and risk-takers.
EC: You have a quote in the book which explains their thinking and mission. Please explain.
JG: You are referring to this one, “While Feebs and local Swat teams were consumed by cumbersome procedures designed to cover their asses and rights of the bad guys, Jonathan and his team did what had to be done and left with the hostages that they rescued.” I have many good friends that are on hostage rescue teams and Swat teams. In the US when someone is kidnapped their primary mission is not to rescue the hostage. Their mission is to make sure the bad guy does not legally get away. But of course, they want the hostages rescued. The regulations require that warrants are issued before they can crash a door or listen in. If they violate those rights, then the case gets thrown out in court. Jonathan and his team does not have that burden. I also put this quote in the book, which was told to me by a friend, “A hostage situation is a homicide in slow motion.”
EC: How would you describe Irene?
JG: When the team utilizes FBI Director Irene Rivers it must be off the record. They operate in the place of justice, not in the place of legality. Her name came from my mothers-in-law first name. She was first introduced in 1998 in my second book, At All Costs. She is a single mom and used to be a badass field agent. In the story, Soft Targets is where Jonathan meets Irene after her children were kidnapped. She is much more politically aware and savvy than the rest of the team.
EC: In your book world there are no term limits for the US President?
JG: President Tony Darmond is very corrupt without any moral standing. He has been President for fifteen years because I do not advance time. Irene must work behind the scenes to make sure nothing goes back to Darmond. Her and Jonathan’s team realize politicians do not want to solve problems. I think these books are very timely because of Fentanyl coming across the border plus how the Cartels are involved with the human trafficking trade.
EC: Why compare the team to Batman?
JG: My son who is now 36 has always been fascinated with everything Batman. I brought Batman in because it is an Easter Egg for me and the family. Every book has a reference to Batman. The team and Batman are similar in that they are the strangers who sets things straight, wants justice, and works outside the lines.
EC: Your next books?
JG: My next book is not a Grave book. It is titled White Smoke, the third book of a trilogy coming out next March. It features Victoria Emerson, a former Congresswoman. She is the leader of a society after a nuclear holocaust that is trying to put the world back together.
The book I am writing now, the next Grave book, will probably take place in Venezuela but will also bring in some Russian activity. It is called Harm’s Way where missionaries are kidnapped. It comes out in June of next year.
THANK YOU!!
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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
THE SECRET WITNESS (Shepard & Gray Book #1) by Victor Methos is the exciting start to a new crime thriller series set in Utah and featuring a former prosecutor and the new female county sheriff. This book starts off with a bang and keeps the chills and twists coming.
After three vicious murders, Tooele County Sheriff Elizabeth Gray believes she is facing the same serial killer her father, the former sheriff was never able to catch. The Reaper was responsible for a string of vicious murders without leaving any evidence. Elizabeth calls on the friend and retired prosecutor her father trusted while working The Reaper case.
Former prosecutor Solomon Shepard knows about psychopathy. He wrote a preeminent reference book on the subject. He is retired from the Major Crimes prosecutor’s office after a courtroom attack and has become almost a hermit in his apartment. Elizabeth asks for help on the one case that has always haunted Solomon and is the only one with the ability to pull him back into his old life.
As Shepard and Gray investigate the body count grows and they are not sure if they are dealing with the return of the original serial killer or a copycat. They soon find themselves face-to-face with a killer neither expected.
I loved this thriller! The main characters were fully drawn with interesting backstories and a chemistry that worked as well as their partnership. I am very glad this is the start of a series because I really am invested in these characters and looking forward to following them in future books. The subplot with Solomon’s neighbor was heartbreaking and I hate to say realistic. The killer was a surprise, but believable even without the surprise twist at the end. I am always interested in the Nature vs. Nurture psychological arguments in serial crime books. The plot moves at an even and fast pace throughout with plenty of twists and surprises to keep the reader turning the page.
I highly recommend this new crime thriller and I am looking forward to more books in this series!
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About the Author
At the age of thirteen, when his best friend was interrogated by the police for over eight hours and confessed to a crime he didn’t commit, Victor Methos knew he would one day become a lawyer.
After graduating from law school at the University of Utah, Methos sharpened his teeth as a prosecutor for Salt Lake City before founding what would become the most successful criminal defense firm in Utah.
In ten years Methos conducted more than one hundred trials. One particular case stuck with him, and it eventually became the basis for his first major bestseller, The Neon Lawyer. Since that time, Methos has focused his work on legal thrillers and mysteries, earning a Harper Lee Prize for The Hallows and an Edgar nomination for Best Novel for his title A Gambler’s Jury. He currently splits his time between southern Utah and Las Vegas.
