July is a month of suspense here at Spire Reviews. Sprinkle in a little romance and the books highlighted this month should hold appeal for all readers.
Thomas Nelson, 384
pages
I always look
forward to reading Sibella Giorello's next novel. Her (romantic) suspense is
intelligent and challenging. Her prose is mature, and her relationships are
authentic. You won't find eye-rolling romance in her novels--it's all very
real. If you haven't read Sibella's work before, I encourage you to start with
her debut, The Stones Cry Out, and work your way through all five Raleigh
Harmon books. You'll be begging for more.
Description:
After
the FBI suspends her for bending its rules, Special Agent Raleigh Harmon is
looking for a chance to redeem her career and re-start her life.
Sent undercover to a
thoroughbred horse track, Raleigh takes on a double life to find out who's
fixing the races. But when horses start dying and then her own life is
threatened, Raleigh realizes something bigger-and more sinister-is ruining
Emerald Meadows.
She's never felt more alone.
Her one contact with the FBI is
Special Agent Jack Stephanson, a guy who seems to jump from antagonistic to
genuine friend depending on the time of day. And she can't turn to her family
for support. They're off-limits while she's undercover, and her mother isn't
speaking to her anyway, having been confined to a mental hospital following a
psychotic breakdown. Adding insult to her isolation, Raleigh's fiance wants
them to begin their life together-now-precisely when she's been ordered not to
be herself.
With just days left before the
season ends, Raleigh races to stop the killing and find out who's behind the
track's trouble, all the while trying to determine if Jack is friend or foe,
and whether marrying her fiance will make things better-or worse.
Raleigh is walking through the
darkest night she's faced, searching for a place where the stars shine bright.
B&H Books,
400 pages
This is the fourth
book in which Struecker and Gansky have collaborated, all centering around a
Special Operations team. Each book could be classified as Page-Turning action
yet the authors deftly weave in a subtle faith message. Where Gansky brings years of writing expertise, Struecker's Ranger experience (Black
Hawk Down fame) brings authenticity to the characters. As with Sibella's series
above, if you haven't read any of this series, I encourage you to start with
the first, Certain Jeopardy, where you'll first meet the Spec Ops
team. I guarantee you'll speed through all four novels.
Description:
Amelia Lennon no longer wears a uniform or carries a weapon. An
Army trained Foreign Affairs Officer, she's negotiating a dispute with the
Kyrgyzstan government that threatens to leave the U.S. without an airbase in
that region. She traded her gun for the power of words, but now she needs both.
While following her government
contact - Jildiz Oskonbaeva, the lawyer daughter of Kyrgyzstan's president -
Amelia witnesses an attempt to abduct her. She manages to prevent the
kidnapping, but now the two women are on the run in a city that's erupting into
chaos.
Master Sergeant J.J. Bartley is
the Special Operations team leader tasked to rescue Amelia and Jildiz.
With two new members in his
unit - one with a secret that could endanger everyone's life - J.J. must
soldier his unit through crazed mobs intent on overthrowing the government.
Back home, his pregnant wife is misinformed that her husband and the team have
been killed. But before this is over, Bartley will find out that's the least of
his problems.
Tyndale House, 384
pages
I was pleasantly
surprised by Janice Cantore's debut, Accused. I enjoy romantic suspense when an author doesn't
overdo the romance angle, when the romance seems organic to the story. Cantore
wrote it perfectly. I'm certain Abducted will be as deftly written, and I can't
wait to pick up my copy.
Description:
After solving the mayor’s murder and exposing corruption among the
top brass in Las Playas, Carly Edwards is happy to be back on patrol with her
partner, Joe, putting bad guys behind bars. For once, everything in life seems
to be going right.
But then everything starts going wrong. Slow to recover from an injury, her
ex-husband, Nick, begins pulling away just as they were starting to get close
again. Meanwhile, when Joe’s wife lands in the hospital with a mysterious
illness, their baby is kidnapped. As Carly chases down every lead in a
desperate search to find the baby, her newfound faith is pushed to its limits.
