Books for Christian Girls: "Unknown Threat" by Lynn H. Blackburn

About this book:

  “US Secret Service Special Agent Luke Powell is lucky to be alive. Three of his fellow agents have died in unusual circumstances in the past ten weeks. Luke is devastated by the loss of his friends and colleagues, and his inability to locate the killer feels like a personal failure. He's an expert at shielding others, but now the protectors are in need of protection.
    FBI Special Agent Faith Malone is driven to succeed and confident in her ability to solve every case she's assigned. She's been put in charge of the investigation into the unprecedented attacks, and with Luke's life in danger, the stakes have never been higher. But it's hard to know how to fight back when you don't know who the enemy is.
    As more agents are targeted, Luke and Faith will have to work together to bring a killer to justice and prevent any more names from joining their fallen brothers and sisters on the Secret Service Wall of Honor.”

Series: Book #1 in the “Defend and Protect” series. Mentions characters from the “Dive Team Investigations” series and does give slight spoilers from those books.

Spiritual Content- Psalm 19:14 in the Acknowledgements; Prayers, Thanking God, & Blessings over food; Talks about God, not understanding why bad things happen to good people, & not understanding how God is loving when bad things happen; 'H's are not capital when referring to God; Faith doesn’t think God cares enough to intervene, but does start praying, hoping He hears (she also recalls a Sunday school teacher telling her about the Holy Spirit being able to “translate tears and sighs and emotions into words” and she hopes that’s true); Luke calls praying a lifeline; Mentions of God & forgiving; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of faiths; A handful of mentions of Bibles & Bible reading; A handful of mentions of churches, church going, & a chaplain; A few mentions of miracles; A couple mentions of Easter services; A mention of a missionary; A mention of Luke closing his mouth in a situation because the things that would come out wouldn’t be very Christian; A mention of a sin; A mention of a man being like a saint;
*Note: A mention of not believing in coincidences; A mention of someone being put through hell; A mention of an evil man.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blasted’, a ‘crap’, a ‘duh’, a ‘oh my word’, a ‘rats’, a ‘sheesh’, a ‘shut up’, a ‘sucker’, a ‘wimps’, two forms of ‘screw up’, two ‘ever-loving’s, three cut-off forms of someone mentioning that another could “shove [something] where—“, four ‘dumb’s, eight forms of ‘ticked off’, eleven forms of ‘idiot’, and eleven forms of ‘stupid’; A few mentions of curses (said, not written); Eye rolling & Sarcasm; A break-in, being held at gun-point and knife-point, & hostage situations (up to semi-detailed); Gunfire, explosions, being shot, seeing others shot, pain, injuries, & blood/bleeding (semi-detailed); Remembering traumatic events & seeing deaths (including the smell, up to semi-detailed); The abandonment of a father & wondering if you weren’t enough for them to stay (x2); All about many, many mentions of deaths/killings (mostly law enforcement officers), the murderers, finding bodies (and the smell), attacks, explosions (mostly car explosions), bombs, gunfire, shooters, seeing others shot, injuries, blood/bleeding, pain, & near death experiences (semi-detailed); Mentions of families grieving the deaths of their loved ones (law enforcement families); Mentions of suicides, murders that looked like suicide, & mental health/depression (one was due to depression *Spoiler* Luke’s father *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of someone being tortured to death & a threat to do it to someone else (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a poison dart & a death (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of fires, arson, burns, deaths & near deaths; Mentions of someone justifying killings & revenge; Mentions of autopsies; Mentions of a break-in & being held at gun-point and knife-point, & threatened (including threats of harming others, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of crimes, criminals, & crime scenes; Mentions of terrorists & treason; Mentions of electronic crimes & counterfeiting; Mentions of gangs, prisons/jails, & someone dying in there; Mentions of someone being hit by a car & her major injuries (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of car crashes, being run off the road, & road rage (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of being stalked & a stalker; Mentions of threats; Mentions of hatred (particularly Luke’s hatred of the FBI and how his family would rather he go into a life of crime than become an FBI agent); Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of eavesdropping; Mentions of tattoos; Mentions of the possibility of someone having a split personality disorder; A few mentions of human trafficking; A few mentions of stabbings; A few mentions of stealing & stolen items; A few mentions of drinking, drunks, & sobriety tests; A few mentions of nightmares; A couple mentions of possible death/dying scenarios; A couple mentions of drug tests; A couple mentions of divorces; A couple mentions of rumors; A mention of North Korean spies; A mention of (teasingly) hiding dead bodies; A mention of (not) being robbed; A mention of throwing up;

*Note: Many mentions of brand names & items (Cherry Coke, iPad, Apple Pencil); Mentions of Uber & Lyft; A few mentions of car brands; A few mentions of sport teams; A mention of a superhero.

Sexual Content- Three fingers-to-lips touches, a nose kiss, a cheek kiss, a not-detailed kiss, two barely-above-not-detailed kisses, and two semi-detailed kisses; Recalling a kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to kiss someone;Staring at someone’s lips (up to semi-detailed); A few talks about kissing & kisses; Touches, Embraces, Hand Holding, Shivers, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Noticing & Staring (including abs and a man’s bare chest, up to semi-detailed); Feeling a “wave of desire” (when someone says their name); Winks, Blushes, & Flirting; Mentions of infidelity, affairs, cheating, men having one or not having one, & a possible prostitute (Sexual Content & Spoiler: including a woman saying that “too-good-to-be-true Christians [men]” wouldn’t go “for a normal affair, but they’re all in for the kinky stuff” and a woman offering a married man a “good time” and that she’s never “had any complaints” from any of her lovers; *Spoiler* Faith’s father left their family after an affair with a woman who is only two years older than her and thus she thinks men are unreliable and untrustworthy *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of a woman believing that all men are scum & her trying to hit on a married man; Mentions of kisses, kissing, & wanting to kiss/to be kissed; Mentions of boyfriends/girlfriends, others’ types, dates, dating, & asking someone out; A few mentions of making out & getting friendly with someone of the opposite gender; A few mentions of a possessive and obsessive boyfriend; A few mentions of flirting; A couple mentions that a couple would “make very pretty/beautiful babies”; A couple mentions of asking for consent before kissing someone; A couple mentions of drooling over & ogling a man; A couple mentions of steamy romance books (teasingly saying someone reads them and another teasing back they would ask to borrow them, though they hope the other doesn’t actually read those); A couple mentions of crushes; A mention of a married man sleeping around; A mention of the possibility of a woman refusing to sleep with a man; A mention of a hook up; A mention of an out-of-wedlock pregnancy being frowned upon; A mention of someone asking a question about a kiss but not in a voyeuristic way; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
*Note: Faith refers to her father once as a scumbag who “donated some genetic material to make [her]”; A couple mentions of giving others kicks in the pants; A mention of butting out of someone’s business; A mention of (teasingly) staring at someone’s butt; A mention of the US Secret Service attracting alpha males.

-Faith Malone, age 31

-Luke Powell, (slightly younger than her)

P.O.V. switches between them

352 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{Add a full star to the Older High School Teens’ rating for those that are very interested in a law enforcement career.}

This was my first book by this author and I was very intrigued by it and engaged into the plot. I’m not sure what it is about the rivalries between different law enforcement agencies that makes me want to read a book more, but I was definitely interested in this story once I saw those elements.

I can’t say I was blown away by either Faith or Luke. I wish the faith moments would have been a bit more prevalent and explained towards the end of the story. I don’t feel like either of them were strong in their faiths, at least, what was shown gave me that impression. While there were quite a few characters we’re introduced to right away, I did really like those from the Secret Service side (I love seeing friendship banter within stories!) and I assume the next books will be about some of them. I also really appreciate the diversity of characters within this book. I have to say that I wasn’t overall thrilled with the ending as it felt rushed and we’re quickly caught up on some missing details in the last chapter, but the rest of the book’s pacing was well done.

Now, the ratings. For certain older girls interested in law enforcement or have read secular suspense books and were okay with some of the content, they would probably be okay with this book. I wouldn’t say it was crass or crude, but there were some parts that felt a little…coarse? Not the typical squeaky clean suspense books I’m used to (in terms of small details/comments, not about the murders/killing parts—those were about the same). Certain comments or mentions made this book lower for the age ranges listed above, along with the focus of Faith and Luke’s interest in the other in a…physically noticing way.

I would definitely read the rest of the series and try out some of this author’s other books, though, I have a feeling they may end up being guilty pleasure reads due to some content I’m not personally a fan of but still really enjoying the suspense side of the story.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!