About this book:
“EMS
helicopter pilot Penny Carlton is used to high stress situations, but being
forced to land on a mountain in a raging storm with a critical patient--and a serial
killer on the loose--tests her skills and her nerve to the limit. She survives
with FBI Special Agent Holt Satterfield's help. But she's not out of the woods
yet.
In the ensuing days, Penny finds
herself under attack. And when news reaches Holt that he may not have gotten
his man after all, it will take all he and Penny have to catch a killer--before
he catches one of them.”
Series: Book #1 in the “Extreme Measures” series.
Spiritual Content- Isaiah 40:13 at the beginning; Prayers; Talks about God
& Him listening; ‘H’s are not capitalized when referring to God; Penny isn’t
sure if God listens, but Holt tells her He does; Mentions of God & Jesus; Mentions
of prayers, praying, blessings over food, & Thanking God; A few mentions of
Christians & a godly woman; A few mentions of being Blessed & the
phrase “God bless you” is said twice (with sincerity); A few mentions of eternity
& a prison chaplain; A few mentions of peace & forgiveness; A couple
mentions of churches;
*Note: The serial killer first started
killing after an argument with his wife about her role in the marriage & his
interpretation of what the Bible says about wives submitting to their husbands
(a twisted view—he expected her to carter to his every demand, desire, and
whim. He then killed her (up to semi-detailed, but the details are said in a
textbook-like bluntness) and make it his mission to train other single women to
obey him (if they don’t, he kills them); Mentions of a serial killer worshiping
another serial killer & the second one feeling like a god because of it; A mention
of a cult.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘duh’, an ‘oh my word’, a ‘stuff
it’, two ‘blasted’s, two ‘idiot’s, four ‘dumb’s, four ‘shut up’s, four forms of
‘wimp’, and twelve ‘stupid’s; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Lots of Fighting/hitting/self-defense,
being held hostage by a lunatic, being held at gunpoint, gunfire, being shot, drugged,
injuries, pain, passing out, & giving CPR (semi-detailed); Recalling past traumatic
events, near death experiences, & seeing someone almost killed (up to semi-detailed);
Seeing someone shot, pain, injured people & trying to help them (up to semi-detailed);
An intruder & fighting (up to semi-detailed); An emergency landing in a bad
storm (up to semi-detailed); Nightmares (barely-above-not-detailed); Seeing the
villain’s point of view, pain, his thoughts about pretty women (including
Penny), & his next plans (up to semi-detailed); All about many mentions of serial
killers, murderers, many murders, how the killings happened, weapons, bodies, &
a killer being armed and on the run (semi-detailed); Many mentions of medical
emergencies, injuries, accidents, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Many
mentions of knives, stabbings, guns, a gun being aimed, gunfire, shooting,
injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding; Mentions of finding many bodies, the
smell, & murderers’ MOs (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a serial
killer grooming another (male) serial killer & giving him “homework” and a
grade on how well he did (on murders); Mentions of an autopsy & body (barely-above-not-detailed);
Mentions of an attempted suicide, or her being pushed, & her injuries (up
to semi-detailed); Mentions of a couple in the middle of separating & the
wife wondering if the husband would snap one day and kill her (she says he
nearly strangled her, up to semi-detailed); Mentions of killing in self-defense;
Mentions of Holt’s sister who confessed to murdering her husband (most of their
family believe she’s innocent, but since she confessed, Holt thinks she did it,
even though her attorney said the husband was abusive, *Spoiler* It’s revealed
towards the end that someone else shot him *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of an
avalanche, a death of a loved one, & injuries (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions
of kidnappings, kidnappers, a child dying, & revenge (barely-above-not-detailed);
Mentions of an abusive nanny & her locking a child in a closet often (*Spoiler*
Penny *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of a prisoner on death row, the execution
date, & how it happens (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of prisons, inmates,
& riots; Mentions of juvie & felonies (Penny says she was a bad girl, was
sent there, and got her head on straight, *Spoiler* She had been a habitual
underage drinker and occasional runaway, she wonders if her parents paid the
judge to send her, but never asked *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of break-ins,
intruders, & threats; Mentions of car wrecks & a serial killer causing
one on purpose; Mentions of nightmares; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions
of hatred; Mentions of alcohol, bars, drinking, & drunks; A few mentions of
drugs & being drugged; A few mentions of throwing up; A few mentions of divorces;
A couple mentions of blackmail; A mention of a man’s father who killed his
mother; A mention of serial killer wanting to create a place where no one can
hear his victims scream; A mention of a serial killer receiving letters from
men who admired him for his “work”; A mention of a woman who fled from her
abusive boyfriend; A mention of shoplifting; A mention of a hunter;
*Note: Mentions of a man who received
a lot of plastic surgery to “finally look how he was destined to look”; Mentions
of car brands; Mentions of old songs & singers; A few mentions of children’s
books & TV shows; A mention of a celebrity (Tayshia Adams); A mention of a
vampire.
Sexual Content- Five cheek kisses
(one unwanted, from a creep), a nose kiss, two forehead kisses, two
top-of-the-head kisses, two barely-above-not-detailed kisses, and two semi-detailed
kisses; Touches, Embraces, & Hand holding (barely-above-not-detailed); A
few flushes/blushes; Receiving a cheek kiss and a touch on the cheek from a
creep/serial killer (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a serial killer
that calls his victims his “girlfriends” and plans “dates” with them (that lead
to their deaths); Mentions of cheating spouses, an affair, a woman trying to make
it look like a husband is having an affair (who ends up killing someone), &
a husband trying to kill the other man (after kidnapping a child and the child unfortunately
dying); Mentions of an unwanted (cheek) kiss from a creep; Mentions of dating, dates,
& girlfriends/boyfriends; A few mentions of kisses & kissing; A couple
mentions of thrill-seeking women wanting to date a serial killer who is behind
bars; A mention of finding a couple in a compromising situation; Love, falling
in love, & the emotions.
-Penelope “Penny” Carlton,
-Holton “Holt” Satterfield,
P.O.V.
switches between them & Rabor (3x)
311 pages
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
{ Not for
those sensitive to serial killers or murders. }
So, this might just rile the
creepiest book I’ve read, which just happens to also be by this author, “Moving Target”. It’s the villains that twist Scriptures that truly creep me out,
and to be fully honest, I don’t know if I would have picked up this book if I
knew this killer would be like that as well. When I took criminal justice classes
in college, I recall learning about a couple different cases with the killer
having “religious motivation”, but I feel like I’ve seen it pretty often in
Christian Fiction Suspense books. Hmm.
While the creepiness of the serial
killer definitely affected my rating, there were a couple other things. Penny
and Holt were fine characters, but I kept having the feeling that I should
already know them? They’ve known each other for almost two years (?) and have gone
out on a few dates, which is fine, there’s a lot of the past-lovers meet again trope
(or whatever it’s called) in CF Suspense books, but the way their memories were
written made me feel like I was missing seeing them in a separate novel (as
side characters)? I’m not sure…
Then there were certain dialogues
felt a little…stiff? Not quite natural feeling? The action and fighting/self-defense
were all well written to the point you could see it happening in front of you,
but the dialogue (mostly between Penny and Holt) felt a little off at times. Though,
I could have been more focused on the action, and not the romance parts. They
had a couple cute parts, but overall I didn’t really get into their
relationship or them together, I wanted the bad guy caught, I suppose, more.
There was also a lot of
off-handed comments about other deaths, a child’s kidnapping and death, other
tragic events, affairs, etc., that while I’m sure is realistic that a lot of
those in these fields see often, it added a separate heaviness to this book’s
plot.
It was a very suspenseful book—to
say the least, almost every suspenseful thing that could happen, did happen—and
I do plan to continue on with the series, this first book just wasn’t really my
favorite kind of story to read.
See y’all on Friday with a new
review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this
author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
*I received this book for free
from the Publisher (Revell) for this honest review.
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