I’m blown away, and so happy to finally see what Ruth looks like. Our cover designer really captured the feel of the novel.
Here’s the Cover for Heaven’s Prey
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Tag Archives: suspense
Sneak Peek: Chapter 1 of Heaven’s Prey
Heaven’s Prey releases November 1 — All Saints’ Day — but I’m allowed to let you read a sample chapter now. Click the link below to meet Ruth Warner, her husband, Tony … and champion race car driver turned serial killer, Harry Silver.
Heaven’s Prey, Chapter 1
As I said before, if you like this sort of story, I hope you’ll read it and spread the word. And if it’s not what you like, I hope you’ll tell your friends who might enjoy it.
My newsletter subscribers got the first chance to see this. They’ll see the cover first too, so if you’d like to be in on that, click here to subscribe or use the link in the sidebar to the right.
Heaven’s Prey Update
Signing the publishing contract for Heaven’s Prey felt unreal. I’ve waited, worked for and dreamed of this for so long, my brain didn’t know how to handle it actually happening.
I have to say, Nicole O’Dell and the folks at Choose NOW Publishing are amazing to work with. I’m truly thankful.
I’ve been living in the world of edits and revisions for the month of July.
There’s a fine balance between excitement and anxiety, and opening the manuscript file full of editorial comments tipped it. There were 129 comments plus the highlighted phrases requiring specific work. Yes, Nicole liked the manuscript, or she wouldn’t have chosen it, but she saw lots of ways to make it stronger.
This is what I wanted: a publishing contract, and the best possible version of my manuscript.
Fear whined, “I can’t do this,” but experience said I could. I chose to listen to that second voice.
Writers need editors. It’s hard to 1) see the weak spots, 2) grasp the editorial direction, and 3) internalize that and find the best way to rewrite.
I looked at Nicole’s comments for Heaven’s Prey. Self-pity sulked, “It’s too hard,” but I believe in this story, these characters. “Hard” doesn’t matter. I’ll do what it takes to present them at their best.
So I’ve been editing.
Every once in a while I found a line that amazed me: it fit perfectly, captured the sound of a character’s voice or the cry of her heart. Most of what I found was “good but it can be better,” so that’s what I’ve been working on.
Writing, like any art, is rarely perfect. Most books have a few copy-editing errors, a few repetitions or less-than-ideal turns of phrase. If we obsessed over perfection, none of our stories would ever get out. So I’ve prayerfully done my best, as will the rest of the Choose NOW team, and we’ll release these characters to the world in November.
Best moment so far: seeing Heaven’s Prey listed on the Choose NOW Publishing website. (Those so inclined can view it here … cover art will be revealed soon, and my newsletter subscribers will see it before it even appears here on my blog.)
Heaven’s Prey: My Novel
I’m expecting a book! Yes, I hope for grandchildren when the time’s right, but I’m excited to finally see some of my “imaginary friends” come to life in print (or e-print). Over the next few months, I’ll introduce them to you.
The novel’s called Heaven’s Prey and it’s Christian fiction. Choose NOW Publishing plans to release it in November. Here’s the tag line:
A grieving woman is abducted by a dangerous offender—and it may be the answer to her prayers.
It’s about a serial killer’s last chance at redemption—not the gentle inspirational read many associate with the Christian genre. I’ve aimed for a suspense level similar to Brandilyn Collins or Terri Blackstock. Not as intense as Ted Dekker or Steven James.
Like this sort of thing? Great! I hope you’ll read it and spread the word.
Not your cup of tea? No worries! I hope you’ll tell your friends who might enjoy it.
Sign up for my author newsletter for advance news on Heaven’s Prey. Subscribers’ contact information will be kept confidential, and I promise not to overload your in-boxes! [Sign up here or in the right-hand sidebar.]
I’m excited to be working with Choose NOW Publishing. As well as their new line of issue-driven books for adults and teens, Choose NOW Ministries has a popular radio show/podcast and a website filled with resources for parents and teens, specializing in hot button issues and empowering teens to make good choices. Stop by and check it out!
Review: Stress Test, by Richard Mabry
Stress Test, by Richard Mabry (Thomas Nelson, 2013)
On his final night of hospital duty before taking up a less stressful medical teaching position that might allow him to marry and settle down, Dr. Matt Newman is kidnapped and barely escapes with his life. Waking up as a patient with a head injury is bad enough, but as he’s trying to piece together what happened to him, his car is found… with a dead body lying on top of Matt’s own wallet.
Suddenly the police think he’s a villain instead of a victim, his prospective fiancée cuts him off, and his new boss can’t finish the hiring process. And there’s still someone out there who wants him dead.
Matt is a likeable man doing his best to figure out what’s going on and to stay alive. His lawyer, Sandra Murray, just broke off a relationship with another doctor because he didn’t share her faith. Matt’s faith has been on hold for quite a while, but there’s something about the attack and false accusations that get him praying again. Sandra and Matt sense a growing attraction that they need to resist until he’s cleared of charges—or arrested.
Most scenes are from Matt’s or Sandra’s point of view, but we also see what’s going on with Matt’s enemies, even though we’re not really sure who’s calling the shots. And there are shots being called, sometimes literally. Matt’s the victim of a complex conspiracy that isn’t fully clear until the story ends.
Stress Test reads like a medical tv drama, with enough facts to flavour the atmosphere but not to bog down the story. I found the opening abduction scene intense enough to not read at bedtime, but the rest of the book carries more of a “mystery” suspense level than that of a thriller.
Award-winning author Richard Mabry is a retired M.D. and his knowledge adds a layer of realism to the hospital scenes—whether Matt is working or being a patient. You can learn more about Richard Mabry and his novels at his website, and you can read a preview of Stress Test at the Thomas Nelson site (scroll down the page). To read an interview with Richard Mabry, visit A Christian Writer’s World.
Related articles
- Stress Test – A New Release (canblog.typepad.com)
- Stress Test by Richard Mabry (homeschooling4boyz.wordpress.com)
- A Medical Thriller by a Dr. Who Knows the Life (samcivy.wordpress.com)
[Review copy provided free from the publisher through the Thomas Nelson BookSneeze® book review bloggers program in exchange for an unbiased review.]
Review: Double Blind, by Brandilyn Collins
Double Blind, by Brandilyn Collins (B&H Publishing Group, 2012)
Lisa Newberry is a wreck. In recent years she’s had three miscarriages, lost her husband in a car accident, and barely survived a mugging. Depression is crushing her and she’s desperate and alone.
Her last hope is a clinical trial for a revolutionary new treatment for depression: a tiny electronic chip implanted in her brain. The chip works. But it also gives her visions—memories—of a murder.
Who is the dead woman? Has her body been found? And who killed her? Does he know Lisa has his memories through the tainted chip? Is he coming for her next?
As a suspense novel, Double Blind rates highly—no surprise for Brandilyn Collins fans. It’s a page-turning, bedtime-delaying read. The plot is fast, believable and nicely convoluted. But it’s more than just an exciting story. This is one of those potentially life-changing novels for a lot of readers.
Lisa’s recent life events have only added to self-worth pain from her childhood (raised by a single mother who found fault instead of praise). Negative thought patterns and emotions have deepened the original hurts. She doesn’t feel God anymore and believes He’s left her.
Her mother barges back into her life and learns about the visions. While the two women try to solve the mystery, they’re also repairing their relationship.
Lisa learns (and teaches us by example) to stand up for herself and to reject self-defeating behaviours. She learns to trust that God is always with her, even when her feelings disagree. Her mother learns a few parenting skills. All these are minor threads, rising naturally from the characters’ personalities and experiences. Double Blind is not a preachy novel, nor one filled with plastic-perfect examples that shame readers in our imperfect states.
It may seem odd that Lisa wasn’t under a doctor’s care for depression in the first place. I think it’s because the traumas were so recent and she’d withdrawn herself. Even her closest friend didn’t realize how bad things were.
Double Blind is the newest novel from Seatbelt Suspense® novelist Brandilyn Collins. You can learn more about the author at her website or find her Facebook page. You can also read an excerpt from Double Blind.
[Review copy provided by The DeMoss Group for a fair review.]
Related articles
- Book Review: Double Blind (thewritelife2.wordpress.com)
- Review: Double Blind by Brandilyn Collins (christianreads.blogspot.ca)
- Book Review: “Double Blind” by Brandilyn Collins (catholicmediareview.blogspot.ca)
- Double Blind by Brandilyn Collins (bookwomanjoan.blogspot.ca)
Review: Nick of Time, by Tim Downs
Nick of Time, by Tim Downs (Thomas Nelson, 2011)
“The Bug Man is getting married on Saturday … if his fiancée can find him.”
Nick Polchak is a forensic entomologist: he studies bugs, specifically the ones attracted to corpses. One thing these bugs do is help him pinpoint the time of death.
His fiancée, Alena, trains rescue dogs for work sniffing out drugs or finding cadavers. They’re her family. She lives in a locked compound outside of town, and she doesn’t encourage visitors.
For all his eccentricities, Nick shares one thing with most engaged men: the whole wedding preparation thing bores and scares him. Maybe that’s why he insists on leaving town for a cold-case meeting with his colleagues.
It’s the week before the wedding, but he can back the next day. Except one of his friends dies, he clashes with the responding police officer, and things progress from there. Suddenly Nick is following clues that take him farther from home—and his wedding date is getting closer.
When he doesn’t phone her as promised, Alena sets off after him with three of her best dogs. She’s a formidable tracker and good at getting the information she needs, but Nick is on the move and she’s always one step behind.
Page one of the novel hooked me, and page four had me laughing aloud. Yes, Nick works with gross bugs with fancy Latin names, but the story doesn’t have a significant ick factor. (If you hate bugs, you might disagree…) It does have a lot of funny bits, usually to do with Nick’s words and actions.
Nick and Alena are blunt-spoken, borderline socially-dysfunctional characters. I loved reading about them—I want to go back and start the series at the beginning—but I sure wouldn’t want to live with either of them. They’re a good match.
Nick of Time picks up where Tim Downs’ previous Bug Man novel, Ends of the Earth, left off. I was able to pick it up cold and enjoy. If you want to start with book one in the series, look for Shoofly Pie. At Tim Downs’ website, you can read the first three chapters of any of his books.
[Review copy from my personal library.]
Review: The Soul Saver, by Dineen Miller
The Soul Saver, by Dineen Miller (Barbour Publishing, 2012)
Sculptor Lexie Baltimore has an unusual spiritual gift: some of her creations are commissioned by God. She wakes in the night with a face and possibly a location in her mind, and sculpts that face before the image fades. That person is her next assignment, someone God wants her to help.
Her husband, Hugh, doesn’t share her faith, and he’s swamped by duties at the university where he’s pursuing tenure. He and Lexie don’t have a lot of common ground anymore. When God sends her to meet an attractive, widowed pastor, is she really on the right path? The spiritual battle that ensues has more at stake than the participants realize.
Lexie is stronger spiritually than many of us, but she’s carrying so much pain (and occasional petulance against God) that she never feels unattainably perfect. She, Hugh, and Pastor Nate are so deeply tangled in their own hurts and perceptions that readers can’t help but care about them.
Part of the ammunition Lexie needs to fight this battle comes from a Bible study she attends for women whose husbands don’t share their faith. This is one of Lexie’s deep hurts, but she’s always thought she was the only one in this position. The friends she makes, and the insights she gains in how she’s been relating to Hugh, may well be the difference between the success and failure of her mission.
Some spiritual warfare novels are scary or borderline horror. Not this one. It’s compelling and hard to put down and I wasn’t keen on reading about the demon character right before bed, but I’d call it a safe read. If you like relationship stories or know someone who’s the only Christian in a marriage, this is a novel for you.
Visit Dineen Miller’s website to watch the book trailer or to read an excerpt from The Soul Saver. Dineen Miller is also the co-author, with Lynn Donovan, of Winning Him Without Words, a non-fiction book on how to thrive in a spiritually unequal marriage.
Related articles
- Only . . .The Soul Saver (hopeofglory.typepad.com)
- Interview with Dineen Miller at Fiction Finder (fictionfinder.com)
Review: Storm Surge, by Rene Gutteridge
Storm Surge, by Rene Gutteridge (Tyndale House, 2005)
FBI Agent Mick Kline is a storm chaser in his spare time. Not that he has much of that these days. The suspect he and his partner have been investigating dies in a suspicious fire, and suddenly his case is tangled with another bureau’s ongoing arson investigation.
The two departments aren’t known for working well together, but a mutual attraction between Mick and his opposite number, Special Agent Libby Lancaster, helps—until she’s sidelined by an injury. Mick’s feelings add another complication: after years of being single, there are now three women on his radar.
At the same time, Mick is receiving anonymous notes that point to a long-ago crime and suggest that a man on Death Row may be as innocent as he claims. Mick needs to uncover the truth before the execution.
There’s much more to this novel, and including flashbacks to the Vietnam War and to the trial that convicted a possibly innocent man of murder. It builds to a life-or-death climax in the heart of a hurricane.
Storm Surge is the third in Rene Gutteridge’s Storm series, and is heavily influenced by Mick’s experiences in the first two novels, Splitting Storm and Storm Gathering. Leave it to me to unintentionally start a series at the end, but everything a new reader needs to know is provided. Mick is an enjoyable character, and I’d like to go back and read the first two novels even though I now have major spoiler information.
The Tyndale House website says Storm Surge is out of print, although there are still copies available through cbd.com. The novel is also available as an ebook.
Besides the Storm series, Rene Gutteridge has written the popular Boo series and other novels. Her first novel, Ghost Writer, releases as a reprint in June 2012.
[Review copy from my personal library.]
Review: Gone to Ground, by Brandilyn Collins
Gone to Ground, by Brandilyn Collins (B&H Publishing Group, 2012)
Amaryllis, Mississippi, is like any other small town. Except for the serial killer.
Gone to Ground opens with an excerpt from the (fictional) Pulitzer-prize-winning article on the first five killings, by local-born journalist Trent Williams. Portions of the article appear throughout the novel to give readers more background.
When a sixth victim is found, three Amaryllis women know who killed her. They each have evidence. They’re each afraid to go to the police. And each one would name a different man.
Brandilyn Collins gives us three vibrant, believable characters: Cherrie Mae is a widow who cleans houses, and she’s getting up in years; Tully is barely 20 and pregnant, with an abusive husband; Deena operates a hairdressing salon and used to be married to one of Amaryllis’ police officers.
The three women take turns telling the story, each one in first person. That doesn’t usually work for me but it does in this story because each of the three has a distinct voice.
Chapter headers tell us who’s sharing this part of the narrative, but I always knew even if I forgot to look. Cherrie Mae, Tully and Deena have similar southern accents, but they’re each so focused on what they know (or fear they know) that it’s easy to tell who’s talking by what they’re talking (and thinking) about.
One thing they agree on: the police chief may be more interested in making an arrest than in getting the right man. Unless they can solve the mystery and present proof he can’t ignore.
Best-selling suspense author Brandilyn Collins is one of my favourites in the genre, and I look forward to each new release. Gone to Ground is a satisfying read with a well-crafted plot and appealing characters. I especially liked Cherrie Mae.
Visit Brandilyn Collins’ website to view a trailer for the novel and read an excerpt.
Other reviews of Gone to Ground: TitleTrakk.com, Reading with Monie, The Suspense Zone (spoiler alert), Book Reviews from an Avid Reader and The Random Thoughts of Crazy Mandy.