and gripping! Can't wait to read the sequel! Terri Blackstock does it again! Another enjoyable Christian Suspense Mystery! :
Cathy is a former lawyer and investigative blogger who writes commentary on homicides.
She finds a threatening note on her car but doesn't seem very concerned, until her brother's wife is murdered and all eyes point to him, Jay and his wife Annalee are going through a custody battle for their son Jackson but he receives an email from his wife saying to come over and discuss things.
he comes over but finds a man dressed as a clown leaving the house, When he walks in the house, he finds his wife has been murdered, He calls the police but his story is so unbelievable, they think he is the one who did it.
Jay's siblings work together to try and clear his name, Everything takes off from there, . .
This was such a great Christian Suspense read! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and the writing style Terri Blackstock has always keeps you interested to find out what happened.
This is part of a series but this story is thankfully wrapped up by the end and doesn't end on a cliffhanger.
I enjoyed the faith content in this story and the characters, Overall,for me! : Terri Blackstock is such a talented writer! I listened to this whole book in about a day and a half.
I was definitely on the edge of my seat for most of it,
This one was definitely more predictable that other books of hers but still good, My favorite thing is that she weaves Christianity throughout it,
I recommend for agesand up, Contains discussions of death, murder, cruelty, and contemplated abortion, Another great series start. I had to place a hold on the next book so of course, I am going to move on to another of Blackstock's series.
I can tell you I really did enjoy this book, It was a little sad and happy and touched on some real issues, It was well written and honestly, gives you something to ponder, I mean many hurt Christians struggle with real issues like Holly has in this book, I love how Blackstock shows how actions can wound and even destroy another's walk, BUT God is always there to help us find our meaning, worth and way back home! Well written and exciting to read! The novel got off to a start in such a way that I thought I had missed a previous one.
Finally, on pagethe back story is told and the rest of the novel was a pleasure to read.
Having that information at the beginning of the novel certainly would have made reading the first half of the book more enjoyable.
There is lots of action and the suspense intensifies as we get near the end, This is not Blackstock's best but it is still a pretty good novel, See my full review at sitelink ly/alvFa. Not quite five because I spotted whodunnit almost right off the bat, but otherwise I really enjoyed this story of three sisterslawyerturnedblogger, housewife, and taxi driverwho become PIs to help prove their brother didn't kill his wife.
I also really appreciated that the story is ultra low on the romantic side! Barely any at all.
Note: looking back on yesterday's reaction, . . I liked that Christianity is spoken of a lot, . . but, in retrospect, it makes me uncomfortable how many times the characters questioned God with questions such as "Why is God doing this to me" and "What did I do to deserve this" Both questions never got a solid, Biblical answer.
Questions such as this are misleading as to the meaning of the Christian life and experience, Obviously, people are going to ask, but the fact is that we live in a fallen, sinful world, and some of the consequences to others may easily snarl us up in bad occurrences.
It's much too selffocused to assume that because someone gets accused of crime, God is tormenting that person.
Instead of assuming all "bad" happenings are a form of punishment, Christians should also look for the blessings in each situation, and also understand that the situation may not be about them at all, but may be about someone else's actions and choices.
. . I felt the resolution was a little farfetched,
It also felt like we were dropped in the middle of a story that had started a book earlier than what Terri was actually writing.
There were many details about characters and their prior to this book relationships that Terri alluded to, with the tone that made the reader feel like we should have known about it.
I didn't like that. I have a plan. Read all the books that I don't want to keep forever, but want to read/reread before booting them out the door.
The list is fairly long, . . Off to a good start with a Blackstock! Not sure I buy the "moonlighter" premise these DIY PIs pull off waaay too much.
But it's good for a pageturner that I knocked out in a day, When truth doesnt make sense, will lies prevail
Cathy Cramer is a former lawyer and investigative blogger who writes commentary on highprofile homicides.
When she finds a threatening note warning her that shes about to experience the same kind of judgment and speculation that she dishes out in her blog, Cathy writes it off as mischief.
. . until her brothers wife is murdered and all the “facts” point to him, The killer has staged the crime to make the truth too farfetched to believe, Working to solve the murder and clear her brothers name, Cathy and her two sisters, Holly and Juliet, moonlight as parttime private investigators.
Juliet, a stayathome mom of two boys, and Holly, a scattered neerdowell who drives a taxi, put aside their fear to hunt down the real killer.
Stakes rise when their brothers grieving fiveyearold son is kidnapped, As police focus on the wrong set of clues, the three sisters and their battered detective friend are the only hope for solving this bizarre crime, saving the child, and freeing their brother.
Nice easy reading mystery with morals amp Christian values, I enjoyed this one will try more of her books A good mystery with family drama, I loved the opening and it's what kept me listening audio book, I thought the clown ploy was genius, There were so many characters, but Blackstock did a nice job having them all interact well, Because they were all somehow related, it was a bit confusing, Once I got them straight, I enjoyed each role and their involvement in the developing plot, I'm still not quite sure who the main character was, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment, A good, fastpaced suspenseful tale, Three sisters Cathy, Juliet and Holly, just find out their sisterinlaw was shot and killed, and their brother, Jay estranged husband to murder victim is the prime suspect.
Cathy's fiancé, Joe, was killed not long ago, Joe's brother, Michael, who was a cop at the time, is now her friend and goto person, She received a threatening note, which instantly had Michael at her side, along with her sisters, but their brother being arrested threw them all in a tail spin of action to find out who was the true murderer, because there's no way it was Jay.
This was a good book! For a while I've been reading books that were categorized Christian fiction, but often had nothing particularly Christian about them, other than maybe someone prayed under their breath, or some folks went to church.
This book almost made up for the others, Christ was evident often even though some character's lives were falling apart, Of course you have several people wondering what on earth God was doing when He allowed the tragedies to happen around them, but the author's way of dealing with this near the end was so refreshing and well told.
It was a legitimate whodoneit, and surprisingly I didn't know who the murderer was until the end.
Loved that.
This was so good!!! Terri Blackstock can write a good story! And for having so many characters I still cared about each one! I cant wait to read the next one! Truth Stained Lies offers up a wonderful blend of nailbiting suspense and strong characterization, making for a thoroughly entertaining read! I literally read through the novel in one sitting because I couldn't wait to see how everything would resolve.
Would Jay's innocence be proven Would his son Jackson be reunited with him Would Cathy, Holly, and Juliet be able to find the killer Terri Blackstock did a fantastic job of leading me from scene to scene, unfolding the truth one step at a time, all while causing me to fall in love with a family of characters I hope to meet again in future books! The characters are complex and realistic, with much to admire while still being completely human, people every reader can relate
with.
I also loved the overarching themes of the book, that God has a plan for our lives, that good triumphs evil, that forgiveness deals bitterness a blow, and that we are destined to do great things for God.
Elements of faith are woven into the book in an utterly natural way without coming across as preachy, something that isn't always easy to do.
Terri Blackstock is at the top of her game, and Truth Stained Lies is not only a masterfully told suspense story, but beautifully showcases deeper themes of life as well.
It is quite a ride, and I know you are going to love it! So grab a copy and dive in but be prepared to lose sleep before you can finally put the book down! I highly recommend this book, and award itout ofstars.
Book has been provided courtesy of publicist Ashleigh Martin from HarperCollins, Canada, Available at your favourite bookseller from Zondervan, a division of HarperCollins, This description captivated my attention, I was really looking forward to this read what I thought to be a good crime fiction, a riveting read.
I was wrong.
I found the plot formulaic, the characters weak and predicable and worst of all I guessed the villain quite early on in the piece.
I was very disappointed, more so because my expectations were so high, I took the synopsis provided by the publisher at face value, I read comments other readers made about the author on the web, they said things like “ how her books kept me awake at night”, how “I could not put them down”.
I did not bargain on getting a religious fiction either, I feel I have been misled, I actually I feel stronger than that, I feel I have been conned there are so many others book that I might have enjoyed, that I could have read instead of this one.
I wasted precious reading time on a book that was wasted on me,
Now not wanting to be totally negative I do see how this type of narrative could /should be branded as crime and religion meets Mills and Boon no offence intended to Mills and Boon readers, romance does have its own place in fiction.
I tried hard to enjoy this book but failed,
This was a really fast read and very enjoyable, Truth Stained Lies is the first book in Terri Blackstock's new Moonlighters series, and she gets things going with a bang.
. . or rather, a murder.
The reader very quickly becomes involved in the Cramer family's drama when a veiled threat is left for exlawyer turned crime blogger Cathy Cramer at almost exactly the same time as her brother, Jay, is about to walk into his worst nightmare.
From that point on, the family Juliet, Cathy, Jay and Holly come together to uncover the truth and see justice is donebefore another murder happens.
Throughout their sleuthing, the three sisters who are all dramatically different and at different stages in their spiritual lives are assisted by the exdetective now private investigator brother of Cathy's deceased fiance.
Don't worry the relationships aren't as hard to follow as I'm probably making them sound,
Terri does add a bit of misdirection to throw readers off the trail however, anyone tuned in will probably suspect the culprit fairly quickly after they appear on the scene.
Even so, picking the murderer won't spoil the enjoyment of the story because this murderer is not satisfied with only one victim.
Although the murder is, obviously, the foundation for Truth Stained Lies, the central focus is, most definitely family, faith and forgiveness.
That is the heartbeat of this book, which is why the story continues on for a little longer than normal once the murderer has been revealed.
All the loose ends in the family were tied up and relationships restored,
Although I am a Christian, I sometimes feel Christian authors feel obligated to tie things up with some type of Gospel message, even if communicated through the characters' own revelations, repentance and growth.
Terri did a quite good job at keeping it believable she didn't resort to altar calls and the sinner's prayer, as some authors do, but even so, it still felt a tiny bit obvious in those final pages.
Having said that, I thought Truth Stained Lies was brought to a really satisfying, uplifting conclusion.
If you are looking for a drawn out thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the final page, this won't do it for you.
However, if you like some thrills combined with a good, clean, family story, then Truth Stained Lies should suit you perfectly.
I finished it in a day thanks to voice over on my iPhoneperfect for listening to Kindle books while doing housework or driving and enjoyed it very much.
I immediately preordered bookin the seriesDistortionwhich is due for release in March, Looking forward to the next installment,
.