Free Fall

GIVEAWAY

MEHL, NANCY

FREE FALL

Someone has been abducting women with long dark hair across Virginia. When the FBI is called to help, Alex Donvan, a behavioural analyst, is tasked with putting together a profile. She's aided by her friend and colleague Logan Hart, but he has been acting strangely and won't say why. When the kidnapper demands that Alex meet him at an abandoned amusement park in exchange for the location of all his captives, she takes the bait. But the meeting proves to be a trap, and the building she's in explodes.

Finding herself imprisoned with several other women, Alex works to think one step ahead of her captor. But the more Logan and the BAU learn about the kidnapper, the more they fear Alex may not make it out alive this time.

My Review:

After I read Night Fall, the first book in the Quantico Files series, I determined that the creep-factor was too high for my comfort level so I didn't read the second book, Dead Fall, and wasn't planning on reading this one either except for a dear reading friend who implored me to read Free Fall because she knew I would love it. And, yes, I trust her so much that I preordered the audible edition and listened to it all in a day and a half. And guess what? Diane was right! I loved it!

So, there's still a creep factor, but it didn't feel as sinister as in the first book. Yes, we're still dealing with a serial kidnapper but the focus was more on the behavioural analyst aspects of working a case and we don't get tons of creepy villain POV which helped a lot. We do get to follow one of the victims though, which upped the angst and brought a different kind of edge to the overall suspense.

While this is the third book in a series where both the romance and the characters' faith journeys are developed through each book, I do think you could read Free Fall as a standalone. I was thrown a bit with the opening scene until I realized it was one of those teaser 'drop the reader into the middle of the story and then backtrack to the actual beginning' kind of starts. You know, the kind that are popular on television dramas, where they begin with the dark moment and then the next scene is "nine days earlier" and the rest of the show builds back up to that dire point? So this first scene, is that, and you aren't meant to know what's going on -- it isn't because you missed something from book two. Phew! Hope that makes sense. :-)

The absolutely glorious part of this book is the plethora of inspirational threads that tie into the title in so many wonderful ways. Powerful and moving and profound -- the kind of novel that not only enriches a reader but magnifies her faith. So grateful to the author for providing so many awe-inspiring moments throughout this story. I was madly trying to transcribe quotes as I listened. Like:

"God will give us beauty for ashes, but we have to give him the ashes."  Yeah, think about that for a second. Because I'm guilty of hoarding my ashes instead of releasing them into His care.

"Just let God be God." Sigh...it really is that simple so why do I make it so complicated?

Both Alex and Logan are challenged in a myriad of ways and this story broke tradition and blazed a new path for Christian Fiction suspense. I'm still processing so many nuances of plot and character development. Really, just stunning!

I listened to the addible edition narrated by Vanessa Daniels who kept me riveted to the sigh-worthy conclusion.

Goal Update: #9 Read outside my comfort zone.

 GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

This giveaway is for a paperback or ebook copy - winner's choice. 

If you would like a chance to win a copy of Free Fall, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca. If you add your email to a 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 June 25 2022. Offer open to International Readers.