Carol Awards Finalist 2020 - Mystery/Suspense/Thriller

GIVEAWAY

First off -- what exactly are the Carol Awards?

They are awards given out by American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) in recognition of outstanding Christian Fiction in the previous calendar year. So these 2020 finalists are books published in 2019. You might have read them already. You might not. I've only read one in this category! I'll include a link to my review in the description.

How does this giveaway work?

You select which of the three Carol Award Finalist 2020 Mystery/Suspense/Thriller novels you would like to receive if your name is drawn. Mention the title in your comment (or an email, if you're entering that way.) If you win, that's the book that will be sent to you. Easy Peasy. Here are the three finalists:

The Gryphon Heist by James R. Hannibal, Revell, a Division of Baker Publishing Group, editor Andrea Doering

Talia Inger is a rookie CIA case officer assigned not to the Moscow desk as she had hoped but to the forgotten backwaters of Eastern Europe -- a department only known as "Other." When she is tasked with helping a young, charming Moldovan executive secure his designs for a revolutionary defense technology, she figures she'll be back in DC within a few days. But that's before she knows where the designs are stored -- and who's after them. With her shady civilian partner, Adam Tyler, Talia takes a deep dive into a world where only criminal minds and unlikely strategies will keep the Gryphon, a high-altitude data vault, hovering in the mesophere.

Even Tyler is more than he seems, and Talia begins to wonder: Is he helping her? Or using her access to CIA resources to pull off an epic heist for his own dark purposes?

In this Ocean's Eleven-meets-Mission Impossible thriller, former tactical deception officer and stealth pilot James R. Hannibal offers you a nonstop thrill ride through the most daring heist ever conceived.

Laynie Portland, Retired Spy by Vikki Kestell, ACFW QIP (Qualified Independently Published), editors Cheryl Adkins and Greg McCann

"Retirement" means something altogether different for a spy. It means someone in authority over you has decided that "coming in from the cold" is out of the question. It means you'd better run.

Laynie Portland has masqueraded as Swedish citizen Linnea Olander for close to two decades, the last seven years as the companion of Vassili Aleksandrovich Petroff, a reputable Russian scientist, former officer of the KGB and, at present,senior technology advisor to the Secretary of the Russian Federation's Security Council.

What Petroff doesn't know is that, during her time as his woman, Laynie (Linnea) has ferreted out and fed her handlers a treasure trove of political and technological intel.

However, Petroff is a man with a pathological need to control every aspect of Laynie's life. When Petroff's jealous rages worsen, Laynie had had enough and petitions her agency to pull her out. She is told, however, that she is too well-placed to decommission: she is too valuable an asset where she is - and she fears that someone, someone in her chain of command, would rather risk her death under Petroff''s hand than lose the value and prestige her intel engenders.

She is told, furthermore, that her request to withdraw poses a larger danger -- because the abrupt departure of Linnea Olander would trigger an avalanche of Russian suspicions, and those suspicions would extend to her company, Marstead International, the front for a joint US/NATO covert intelligence gathering venture.

But Laynie is desperate: She knows how close to the edge she stands. She has acted the part of Linnea Olander too long and her ability to maintain the facade she presents to Petroff is fragile at best. A single misstep could blow her cover.

Faced with no viable alternative, Laynie runs.

Petroff views Linnea Olander's disappearance as a personal affront. In his eyes, Linnea's disloyalty is the ultimate act of betrayal, and he swears to find and punish her. Simultaneously, Laynie's Marstead superiors brand her as a rogue agent, a loose cannon who can no longer be trusted -- and the "retirement package" they order for her includes a short walk off the deck of a ferry into the black, icy rollers of the Baltic Sea.

How can Laynie escape both the Russians and her own agency -- the very people she once trusted? Will no one help her? Or will the God in whom her sister Kari trusts extend his protection over her life?

But why would he do that, Laynie asks herself, given the life I have lived?

Midnight on the River Grey by Abigail Wilson, HarperCollins Christian Publishing, editor Becky Monds

In this Gothic Regency romance Rebecca fears she has developed feelings for the man she swore to see hanged, her brother's murderer.

After her brother's mysterious death, Rebecca Hunter vows to expose the man she believes responsible: Mr. Lewis Browning -- known by the locals as the Midnight Devil and by Rebecca as her new guardian.

Summoned to his reclusive country estate to await her London season, Rebecca plans her own secret investigation among the darkened corridors of the mysterious Greybourne Hall. Yet Lewis Browning is not as she once imagined, and his motivation is horribly unclear. Recurrent nightmares and Rebecca's restless feelings are further complicated by the shadow of her mother's prior descent into madness and wondering if she, too, will follow the same heartbreaking path.

Even as midnight rides, strange injuries, and further murders lead back to Mr. Browning, Rebecca can't ignore the subtle turn of her heart. Has she fallen for the man she swore would pay for her brother's death? And , moreover, can she trust him with her uncertain future?

My Review: https://bestreads-kav.blogspot.com/2019/08/midnight-at-river-grey.html

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

If you would like a chance to win a copy of  one of these Carol Award finalists -- Mystery/Suspense/Thriller Category novels , leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it's easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday July 25 2020 . Offer open to International Readers. Good luck