Books for Christian Girls: "Life Flight" by Lynette Eason

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

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{ 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!