Book description:
She's following her instincts. They're following her every move.
After her rescue of nearly fifty kidnapped children made international headlines, Amara Alvarez gets what she's worked for: a transfer to San Antonio's Homicide Division. But reality sets in quickly when her first case, the suspicious death of a teenager at a crowded local water park, plunges her life into chaos.
As the investigation moves forward, Amara finds herself stalked online by cybercriminals who uncover her personal life in frightening detail. With few leads, she's forced to resort to unconventional methods to find the killer and prevent her first murder investigation from ending up in the cold case files.
Tom Threadgill is back with another riveting page-turner featuring the detective who is willing to put everything on the line to see justice served and lives protected.
My review:
Network of deceit is only the second book I have read by this author, and I am really liking his books and style. Though this book and the one it follows does not have a series name, it is a series and this book continues after the first one.
As with the first book, the main character is a female who is now a homicide detective. (Side note...the Christian fiction market is geared too much towards women, so I wish this male author would have had his series about a male instead of a female).
The plot for this series is a very complicated and well thought out plot. It starts with what appears to be a simple death of a seventeen-year old boy, but goes far beyond that by the time the game is over. Role playing games, ransom-ware, and a lot of other things factor in. The author did a great job of describing a lot of technological stuff in a way that was interesting and didn't make my eyes glaze over.
There is a lot of suspense and mystery in this book, and the author does keep the reader guessing as to what is really going on, and who the guilty party......or parties are. He also did what I felt was a great job of portraying what a detective new to homicide might do and act as they are in a different kind of job than they are used to with the procedures and all that they have to learn.
This book had what the first did not: a romantic interest with a fellow detective, Starsky. The female heroine is a likable character, and so is he. Slight spoiler: the book seems to indicate that this romance may continue and develop further. I love humor, and I found myself laughing over some of the back and forth between these two.
The complicated plot did come to a satisfying end, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to that point in the book. I loved the story, and it kept me on the edge of my seat. This is truly quality Christian fiction, and the author has me hooked as a reader.
I was provided a copy of this book for review purposes. All opinions in this review are my own.
About the author:
Tom Threadgill is a full-time author and a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and the International Thriller Writers (ITW). The author of Collision of Lies, Tom lives with his wife near Dallas, Texas. Learn more at www.tomthreadgill.com.
Network of Deceit is available from Revell, part of the Baker Publishing Group. Thanks to Revell for the review copy.
Book #1
