Books for Christian Girls: "Tracking a Killer" by Elizabeth Goddard

About this book:

“Can an officer and her furry partner survive a killer and the wilderness?
When Rocky Mountain K-9 officer Harlow Zane and her cadaver dog, Nell, join the search for a serial killer, the last thing she expects is that she’ll draw the killer’s obsessive attention. But her former academy rival, FBI Special Agent Wes Grey, notices she matches the victim profile. After another look-alike goes missing, they must work together to catch the criminal…before Harlow’s the next to disappear.”

Series: Part of the “Rocky Mountain K-9 Unit” mini-series under the “Love Inspired Suspense” line. It does mentions characters and events from other books in the series.

Spiritual Content- 1 Peter 4:8 at the beginning (& mentioned in the author’s note at the end); Another Scripture is mentioned (about vengeance not being ours); Thanking God; Many prayers (the majority of the prayers are asking God for something or for Him to please do something); Harlow prays once to get past her resentment and anger towards Wes; Wes comments on sin and murder being the first crime against humanity; Mentions of God & prayers; A few mentions of God’s creation; A couple mentions of Christians & talking about one’s faith (Wes does this one Harlow finds it a nice surprise); A mention of a Bible.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: two ‘idiot’s and three ‘stupid’s; A mention of a curse (said, not written); Being attacked, Being hit with a shovel, Being drugged, Being held at knife-point, Being tied-up, nearly abducted, fighting back (self-defense), passing out, & PTSD from it when recalling those events (up to semi-detailed); Gunfire, Attacks, & shooting to kill someone and being successful (up to semi-detailed); Seeing someone being attacked & nearly abducted (twice, up to semi-detailed); Finding someone attacked (believed to dead and the person who found the other is distraught before realizing that the person is still breathing, up to semi-detailed); Murdered bodies are found (including recalling finding a murdered child, up to semi-detailed); Harlow is attacked and nearly abducted five times & recalls it (including via a nightmare, up to semi-detailed); Harlow wants to use herself as bait for the serial killer *Spoiler* and when they do use her for bait, her beagle is shot with a dart (but is fine as the killer says he doesn’t kill dogs), she is taken by the killer while being held at knife-point and tied-up; Harlow is afraid that she might actually die, but Wes comes and saves her *End of Spoiler*; *Spoiler* At the end, Wes is drugged and abducted by the serial killer to lure Harlow out and she’s afraid Wes was killed; She finds him and thinks he’s dead until she noticed that he’s breathing; The serial killer planned to kill him for being in the way; The serial killer also says that the other women wanted him to take them, which Harlow corrects that they didn’t (he’s not mentally stable, up to semi-detailed) *End of Spoiler*; As a child, Harlow *Spoiler* found the body of a murdered little girl in a house’s walls and it terrified her (the child went missing three decades before and was assumed to be murdered by a neighbor who was “fixated” on the girl; All parties involved are dead so there was no justice for the situation happened; up to semi-detailed) *End of Spoiler*Harlow & Wes have a history together prior to the book starting & there’s mentions of when they exploded at the other (verbally); All about many mentions of a killer/serial killer, the victims, the bodies, Harlow’s cadaver detection beagle finding the remains, the “scent of death”, abductions, & how the deaths happened (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a missing/kidnapped baby, a car fire, an unconscious woman, & another woman being killed in a supposed car accident (up to semi-detailed);

Mentions of crimes, crime scenes, & criminals; Mentions of gunfire, being stabbed, knives, injuries, blood/bleeding, & a break-in (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of nightmares & screams (Harlow after the attempted abductions); A few mentions of someone being stalked/watched; A few mentions of prison; A couple mentions of hostage situations; A couple mentions of vandalism; A couple mentions of alcohol & a possible alcoholic; A couple mentions of rumors; A mention of someone trying to commit suicide; A mention of a possible baby smuggling ring; A mention of drugs; A mention of stuffed wildlife heads at a cabin;
             *Note: The serial killer is called a psychopath & that his plans made “twisted sense” to him (It’s implied that the serial killer isn’t mentally stable); Mentions of Harlow going to therapy for a past event & it being required for her to go to a therapist/counseling after an event in this book (Wes thinks that he will probably go as well); Mentions of car brands; A few mentions of a mental rehab center; A couple mentions of many serial killers having “varying degrees of mental illness[es]” and are “often victims of abuse”; A couple mentions of a suspected serial killer spending his childhood going “from one foster home to another” and someone else adding that “plenty of people have those characteristics who aren’t killers, of course. They’re just struggling.”; A couple mentions of Wes’ mother having a stroke.

Sexual Content- A hand kiss, an almost kiss, a forehead kiss, two not-detailed kisses, a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, and a semi-detailed kiss; Remembering kisses (semi-detailed); Wanting to kiss (up to semi-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Cuddling after a traumatizing event, Hand holding, Heat, Electricity, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Remembering touches & embraces (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (up to semi-detailed); Blushes; Noticing & Staring (including muscles, up to semi-detailed); Harlow & Wes used to date years before the book starts; After Harlow is attacked for the second time, Wes stays with her in her cabin to protect her (he sleeps in a chair or another bed, but at one point does try not to stare at her sleeping form and fails; Later he thinks of it as playing house; barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of dating, a breakup, & exes; Love, falling in love, being in love, & the emotions.

-Harlow Zane
-Wes Grey
                                P.O.V. switches between them
                                                        217 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

As a beagle mom, I was here for the beagle and the beagle only in this story. And really, that’s truly all I liked about this book, unfortunately.

Harlow wasn’t the smartest law enforcement agent I’ve read about, that’s for sure. When she pulled over to change a flat tire in a place she knows the serial killer has recently been, she let her guard down. She has a gun but didn’t have it on her, so that part was a bit ridiculous.

I thought it was also ridiculous that she felt like she had to prove herself on the team when she becomes a target of the possible serial killer—twice. Girl, your own safety is important too! She’s afraid that she’ll get kicked out of the group for her own protection and prays that it’s “not fair” to God. She acted like she was a teenager at times and it was very annoying.

We’re constantly being told that she’s a trained police officer and a professional and can do her job, but, honestly, we haven’t seen much of that. Honestly, it would have made more sense if she wasn’t law enforcement and just a girl from his past with her dog because she never acted professional in her reactions.

This book was 70% focused on their romance and their failed relationship and history, rather than the suspense of finding a killer. The romance parts were very dramatic and was incredibly distracting for their mission.

We get teased a lot with their history with being told some of the details about the fallout but not the actual details of what happened. She actually knows the exact number of days since their blow up. (Eight years, five months, and ten days, to be exact.)

There was also mentions of a young child being murdered that honestly just broke my heart. While it does unfortunately happen, it’s not something I’d like to ever read about without a heads up to be able to prepare myself the best I can about such a topic.

I’m really bummed that this book was such a miss for me because the beagle on the cover and in the plot. I won’t recommend it for BFCG’s ages because of their romantic attraction, lack of faith moments, & the topic of a murdered child.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!