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Double Cross Click title to read excerpt or buy from CBD.com By James David Jordan / B&H Publishers Reviewed by Susan SleemanI have a short list of authors whose books I'd want to have with me if I were stranded on a deserted island. James David Jordan is one of those authors.Double Cross brings Taylor Pasbury back into a staring role from author James David Jordan's first novel Forsaken, a Suspense Zone Reviewer's Choice Book for 2008. So when I received an advanced readers copy of the sequel, Double Cross, I opened it and wanted to immediately delve into the book but had to force my eyes away from the pages and put the book into my to be read pile. I had too many books I had committed to read and review before I could look at Double Cross. Well, now I am happy to report that I have reached the book in my stack and am I glad I did. The publisher's description of the novel is the best way I can tell you about the plot and not reveal anything I shouldn't. So here's their description. Raised by a father who was a former Special Forces officer, Taylor is beautiful and brilliant and knows how to take care of herself. But she is haunted by her past and the sacrifice her father made to save her from a brutal rape when she was seventeen. After a controversial stint in the Secret Service, she has become the most prominent private security specialist in America. When she discovers the body of a former client's top assistant, all the evidence points to embezzlement and suicide. But Taylor has no way of knowing that her mother, who ran out when Taylor was nine, is about to reappear and lead her down a twisting path of danger and deceit. It's a road that won't end until they reach the spot where Taylor's father died-where Taylor learns some sacrifices can never be earned. What I can tell you about is how much I loved Forsaken and Double Cross. Taylor Pasbury is a character that I longed to find in Christian fiction but didn't until Jordan released Forsaken. She is a strong woman with a sassy wit, yet she is soft and vulnerable and begs to be understood by the reader. She's had a tough life, made terrible mistakes and yet she has also worked hard to overcome them and heal from her past. But it's not just this character that makes the book an award winner. It is the masterful way Jordan tells a story, filled with unrelenting suspense and humor, and yet when you think this would be enough to give you a satisfactory read, he adds a spiritual message that causes you to stop and think about your own life. Please don't miss out on this book. If you haven't read Forsaken, I would recommend picking that one up first. Not because you have to read it to understand the story, but because it makes the reading of Double Cross all that much more enjoyable. |
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Romantic suspense author Susan Sleeman's books include High-Stakes Inheritance, a romantic suspense novel to be released in September by Love Inspired Suspense an imprint of Steeple Hill Publishers and Nipped in the Bud, a cozy mystery coming in October from Barbour Publishing. Read more about Susan Sleeman |
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Double Cross Click title to read excerpt or buy from CBD.com By James David Jordan / B&H Publishers Reviewed by Gail WelbornThe sassy dialogue is laugh-out-loud funny, the suspense is merciless, the complex, finely drawn characters sympathetic, even the ones you love to hate.Twenty-nine-year-old, Taylor Pasbury had fantasized many reunions with her mother since the time her mother abandoned her and Dad twenty years ago. But she never dreamed of a reunion like this. The stylish, dark-haired woman stood in the foyer of murdered televangelist Simon Mason's home and brightly announced, "I'm your mother," then snapped Taylor's picture to catch her reaction. Absent were the hugs, the tears, the contrition and forgiveness Taylor always dreamt of. Taylor felt hot tears pool in her eyes, but refused to shed them. With grim reluctance, she endured the stranger's cold embrace. Raised by her Special Forces father, Taylor had learned to shoot, move quickly, and take care of herself at a young age. But her father couldn't teach her how to be a girl-she had to do that on her own. He died while protecting her when she was seventeen. Because of his sacrifice, Taylor could be described as brilliant, beautiful and self-assured, but that was only on the outside. On the inside, Taylor's most painful question motivated her binge drinking and kept her looking for love in all the wrong places-until she met televangelist, Simon Mason. With Mason's encouragement, Taylor joined Alcoholics Anonymous. Today she considered herself a work in progress, although she still had an aversion to dating and to men. With training from her father, and the Secret Service, Taylor opened a successful security agency. But that painful question remained. How could her mother leave her and never look back? She couldn't know Mason held the key to her answer. After terrorist threats, Mason hired Taylor's agency to protect him, his twenty-year-old daughter Kacey, and Simon Mason World Ministries. Taylor and Kacey quickly became friends, and Taylor taught Kacey how to take care of herself, like her father had taught her. At the same time Mason's counsel helped Taylor cope with her checkered past. When Mason urged Taylor to find her mother she had tried without success. Now, this stranger who claimed to be her mother, stood just feet from her. Thus begins Double Cross, David James Jordan's fall 2009 release that continues the story of Taylor Pasbury begun in Forsaken. In this suspense-filled mystery, Taylor follows misleading clues of embezzlement and suicide down a dangerous trail of clues that lead to kidnapping, blackmail and murder. The sassy dialogue is laugh-out-loud funny, the suspense is merciless, the complex, finely drawn characters sympathetic, even the ones you love to hate. But, this is more than a murder mystery or suspenseful story. It's also a thought-provoking journey about the meaning of selfless sacrifice, illustrated by the personal and spiritual struggles of the main character. The author's intense, suspenseful writing, filled with unforeseen plot twists and turns, leads to an unexpected, but satisfying ending that leaves the reader wanting more. This is one to put on your calendar for yourself or as a gift when it's released in the fall. |
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About Gail Welborn Visit Gail's website. |
Susan Sleeman
is passionate about Christian Suspense as both a reader and a writer. She is the author of High-Stakes Inheritance, a romantic suspense novel to be released in September by Love Inspired Suspense an imprint of Steeple Hill Publishers and Nipped in the Bud, a romantic cozy mystery in October from Barbour Publishing.
Read more about Susan's. . .
Christian Suspense
To Die For
©2006-10
Susan Sleeman
Susan Sleeman
