Calculated Risk by Lynn Shannon
This surprisingly good book (I’ll get to the surprisingly in a bit) was about justice, with vengeance as the motive for the bad guys, and redemption around love for both the main characters. I say surprisingly because this is a romantic suspense novel, thus going into it I figured mostly romance with a dribble of suspense. However, this book featured a lot of suspense. Lynn Shannon upped the thrills as the book went on. It’s an intense story and kept me on edge while reading, wondering what would happen next.
Addison Foster is a lawyer who represents women who have been battered and are trying to get out of their marriage. She lives next door to Jason Gonzalez, an ex-marine who is suffering from PTSD. Yes, it’s this couple that spends the entire book making excuses as to why they can’t get together as a couple. Addison’s ex-husband abused her. He’s now dead due to an overdose. Therefore, she’s reluctant to enter into another relationship. Jason was the sole survivor in an incident in Afghanistan, so suffers not only from PTSD but from survivor’s guilt. Therefore, he isn’t worthy of Addison’s love. Enough of the romance. If you like the standard romance tropes, you’ll like this novel. And if you like suspense thrillers, you’ll definitely like this novel.
Someone is trying to kill Addison. The first chapter starts with an attempt on her life. And every couple chapters throughout, until the climax, there are more attempts. The ante is upped as the story goes on. The mystery is okay. There’s a limited set of suspects, but there could be someone we don’t really know as well, since Addison’s job makes a lot of ex-husbands angry. Addison and Jason feel they must find out who the killer is because of distrust of the police, due to one of the suspects being wealthy and friends with the police chief. Addison goes through a couple scenarios and a couple of main suspects. The climax has a surprise, though it was set up earlier, so the reader will say, “Oh yeah, I thought so and so was involved.” You’ll have to read the book to find out who so and so is.
This is a Christian novel as well. And the Christianity is well-done. Jason and Addison are Christians. But unlike a previous Christian suspense novel I reviewed, not everyone around them is. This book seemed a more realistic mix of Christian and non-Christian. And it’s a good example of people who try to live a Christ-like life. The thing missing is there is no presentation of the Gospel, no testimony from any of the characters. Prayer and reliance on God are weaved into the story. Christian and non-Christian alike will enjoy this book.
Being a Christian novel, it’s clean. No profanity. No on page sex. Just some kissing. And the violence is reasonable and necessary for the story. I’m going to put this at number ten. It’s a good book and I recommend it for anyone that likes clean suspense thrillers with a romantic element. And this is book one of a series called Triumph of Adversity. There are currently six in the series.
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- Right Behind You by Lisa Gardner
- Moonlight Awakens by John Matthew Walker
- Win by Harlen Coben
- Lost Light by Michael Connelly
- Murder Board by Brian Shea
- Anna: A Cliff Ford Mystery by Terry Toler
- The Man Burned by Winter by Pete Zacharias
- Born to Die by Lisa Jackson
- Calculated Risk by Lynn Shannon
- The Tapestry Bag by Isabella Muir
- The Mechanic by Tom Fowler
- Into the Flames by Liz Bradford
- You Are Invited by Sarah A Denzil
- Girl, Alone by Blake Pierce
- One Night in Sedona by Carrie Latimer.
- Coffin Cove by Jackie Elliott
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