Irene Hannon in her new book “Fatal Judgment” the first book in her new series, Guardians Of Justice published by Revell Books takes us into the world of the U. S. Marshals. The focus this time is on Jake Taylor, a Deputy Marshal just recently come home to St. Louis.
One of the duties of the U. S. Marshals is to protect judges. Federal judge Liz Michaels’ sister has just been killed in the judge’s home and it is possible that the murderer meant to kill the judge instead of the sister. From that point on the hunt is on for the murderer and to protect Judge Michaels until then. However the forensic evidence is slim and time is quickly passing with limited results.
Jake Taylor and Judge Michaels know each other because the Judge married Jake’s best friend who, possibly, committed suicide. Jake is not all that happy about being in charge of her protection but he is a professional and will do the job he has been assigned to. However, being in such close proximity causes Jake to re-evaluate the information his friend had given him about the judge thus developing their romance.
The judge is kidnapped and the good guys have no clue as to his identity. Time is running short with Liz’s life in great jeopardy and this thriller becomes more and more exciting with the last hundred pages being an extremely wild ride. All I can say is imagine going on a roller coaster the beginning of the ride is nothing until you get to the top and experience that first drop then it is nothing but twists, turns, upside down loops until the ride ends. This is what Ms. Hannon does to us as readers with this book.
In addition to the nerve-wracking suspense there is also the wonderful theme of judgment and why we should not judge others. Almost every character in this book has made a judgment against another and how those judgments affect them is incredible to witness. God tells us that we should not judge simply because we do not ever have all the facts and we cannot be dispassionate. God, on the other hand, knows everything and can deliver a just judgment. I think this is Irene Hannon’s best work so far and this book is just the beginning of the new series.
This is a fun read, it is a fast read, however I do not recommend starting this book late at night because it will cost you sleep as you will not want to put it down. Ms. Hannon is an excellent writer and knows how to twist your nerve endings as she tightens the suspense. I recommend this book, and everything else that Ms. Hannon has written, highly!!
If you would like to listen to my interview about “In Harm’s Way” and/or would like to hear the previous interviews where we discussed the first and second books of The Heroes of Quantico series please go to www.kingdomhighlights.org where they are available On Demand.
