Cold Shot by Dani Pettrey

In college, Griffin McCray and his four best friends had their lives planned out. Griffin and Luke Gallagher would join the Baltimore PD. Declan Gray would head to the FBI and Parker Mitchell would go on to graduate school as a crime scene analyst. But then Luke vanished before graduation and their world--and friendships--crumbled.

Now Griffin is a park ranger at Gettysburg, having left life as a SWAT-team sniper when a case went bad. The job is mostly quiet--until the day he captures two relic hunters uncovering skeletal remains near Little Round Top. Griffin just wants the case to go away, but charming forensic anthropologist Finley Scott determines that the body is modern--a young social justice lawyer missing since spring--and all evidence points to the work of an expert sniper. When FBI agent Declan Gray takes over the case, past and present collide. Griffin soon realizes he'll need to confront some of the darkest days of his life if he--and those he cares about--are going to escape a downward spiral of murder that crosses continents.

My review:

  Dani Pettrey is still fairly new to the Christian suspense/mystery genre', with only one series under her belt...... but what a series. I wasn't very far into that great series until she became a favorite author of mine. Thankfully, that series stretched out into a 5 book series, unusual for most Christian series these days.

  She has been teasing her readers about this book for a long time now, and I am one who has been looking forward to reading it. As I expected, it did not disappoint. Her first series was set in Alaska, and this one is totally different being set in the Chesapeake area. Cold Shot is book one in the Chesapeake Valor Series, and the series is off to a great start with this series.

  Cold Shot brings entirely new and different characters in than were in the first series. Instead of being about different members of a family as the Alaskan Courage Series, this series is going to be about four different friends, all in some kind of law enforcement position. This book was such a great read, that Pettrey may have a difficult time coming up with better or just as good of stories for the rest of the books. Yes, it is that good.

  This was a book I had a hard time putting down. I loved the characters, the plot was great, and it had a lot of twists and turns. What seemed like a simple mystery turned out to be even bigger than the reader was led to believe at first. This is the kind of book that should be held up as a standard for Christian suspense. I didn't even mind the romance, and appreciated the fact that the author gave a glimpse into the male side of things instead of focusing only on the female's as so many books do that have romance in them.

  The book had a great ending that satisfied, yet left you wondering what was going to happen next. If you like suspense and have never read a book by Dani Pettrey, this would be a great one to start with. A great read.

About the author:

Dani Pettrey is a wife, home-schooling mom, and the acclaimed author of the Alaskan Courage romantic suspense series, which includes her bestselling novels Submerged, Shattered, Stranded, Silenced, and Sabotaged. Her books have been honored with the Daphne du Maurier award, two HOLT Medallions, two National Readers' Choice Awards, the Gail Wilson Award of Excellence, and Christian Retailing's Best Award, among others.

She feels blessed to write inspirational romantic suspense because it incorporates so many things she loves--the thrill of adventure, nail-biting suspense, the deepening of her characters' faith, and plenty of romance. She and her husband reside in Maryland, where they enjoy time with their two daughters, a son-in-law, and a super adorable grandson. You can find her online at danipettrey.com.


Cold Shot is available from Revell, part of the Baker Publishing Group.

Thanks to Revell for the review copy.