Catch the Girl (Mercy Harbor #3)

Catch The Girl is the third book in the Mercy Harbor thriller series by Melinda Woodhall. I somehow finished the book because I had agreed to post a review in exchange for a free copy. 

Never again! The next time I face such a situation, I will mark DNF and move on. I will not read the fourth book in the series. 

This is not to say that the writing or the plot is bad. Either the genre is not right for me or the time I chose to read this series. That is all!

Note: BookSirens provided a free copy in exchange for an honest review. 

Girl Eight (Mercy Harbor #2)

Girl Eight is the second book in the Mercy Harbor thriller series by Melinda Woodhall. I started reading it in the hope that I would like it better than River Girls, the first book in the series. 

It had pretty much the same positive and negative points as River Girls. The only difference was that the victims here were young drug addicts instead of abused women. 

It was nice to see Leo and Eden’s relationship evolve. However, the lack of clarity about the villain’s motive was disappointing. 

Once again, I liked the plot and writing but not the book. 

Note: BookSirens provided a free copy in exchange for an honest review. 

River Girls (Mercy Harbor #1)

When I first came upon The River Girls by MelindaWoodhall, I was excited because it was the first book in a thriller series (Mercy Harbor). I thought thrillers would give me the respite I wanted from the memoirs that I was reading in 2020. I was wrong.

Let me begin with the positives.

• The book had two strong female protagonists. Eden Winthrop who runs a shelter for abused women and detective Nessa Ainsley. Although Eden seemed fragile, she turned out to be strong in times of crisis. Nessa, the only female detective in her unit, was tough and dedicated. 
• The mystery was intriguing because of multiple plot threads. 
• The secondary characters were well-developed and helped move the story along.

However, I disliked the book probably because this was not the right time for me to read it.

The instances of innocent girls being abused—forcible use of illegal drugs, domestic violence, sexual assault, kidnapping, murder, human trafficking—were unbearable.
That some law enforcement officials were lackadaisical/corrupt/evil also added to it.

I was already reeling from an excess of fear, anger, and sadness. This book gave me no relief, no hope.

Note: BookSirens provided a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Never-Open Desert Diner

Re-published by Crown Publishing

First published by Caravel Books

Summary: Ben Jones, the hero of James Anderson’s novel, The Never-Open Desert Diner is abuot to lose his small trucking company. A single, thirty-eight-year-old truck driver, Ben’s route takes him back and forth across one of the most desolate and beautiful regions of the Utah desert.

The orphan son of a Native American father and a Jewish social worker, Ben is drawn into a love affair with a mysterious woman, Claire, who plays a cello in the model home of an abandoned housing development in the desert. Her appearance, seemingly out of nowhere, reignites a decades-old tragedy at a roadside café referred to by the locals as The Never-Open Desert Diner. The owner of the diner, Walt Butterfield, is an embittered and solitary old man who refuses to yield to change after his wife’s death.

Ben’s daily deliveries along the atmospheric and evocative desert highway bring him into contact with an eccentric cast of characters that includes: John, an itinerant preacher who drags a life-sized cross along the blazing roadside; the Lacey brothers, Fergus and Duncan, who live in boxcars mounted on cinderblocks; and Ginny, a pregnant and homeless punk teenager whose survival skills make her an unlikely heroine.

Ben’s job as a truck driver is more than a career; it is a life he loves. As he faces bankruptcy and the possible loss of everything that matters to him, he finds himself at the heart of a horrific crime that was committed forty years earlier and now threatens to destroy the lives of those left in its wake.

My thoughts: I loved this book. Unabashedly. It wrenched my heart right out of me at times though. The narrative was unsentimental, sometimes really dry. However, I was so involved in the story. 

When I reached halfway through the book, I realised why it seemed so familiar. The descriptions of the land, the characters and even some of the incidents reminded me of some of Louis L'Amour's books. This is high praise coming from me because L'Amour is one of my favourite authors. I feel very few writers can describe the landscape as well as him.

The thing I disliked about the book was that there were spelling errors (lighting instead of lightning in more than one place etc.). I hope they have been corrected.

Note: I received a copy from Caravel Books in exchange for a honest review when they published it in February 2015. I thank them for that. (Caravel Books is no longer selling the book as it has been re-published in 2016 by Crown Publishing.)

Nowhere to Turn

Summary: Danielle Harding decides to leave her abusive husband Kurt, an FBI agent. She runs away with her 11-year-old, deaf son Simon. On the way, she hears of her husband’s death. She returns only to find herself the target of some people because her husband was a ‘dirty cop’. Her brother-in-law Stuart, also an FBI agent, starts stalking her because he has always wanted her.

Danielle runs again, this time with the help of Operation Refuge, a privately funded organization that helps people disappear. Her case is taken up by Adam Buchanan, who is a former US Marshall. The story is about the terrifying experiences of Danielle and Simon and how with the help of Adam they manage to remain safe.

My thoughts: This Christian fiction thriller is the second in the Hidden Identity series by Lynette Eason. It is fast-paced and full of action. I finished the book in a night because there were enough twists and turns to keep me interested. 

This is also a romance, where the main characters Adam and Danielle show restraint in taking their relationship further as they deal with the dangers they face. Adam is caring and completely different from Kurt, which make Danielle and Simon trust him. Simon has above-average intelligence and loves his mother so much so that he takes huge risks to protect her.

The book has a spiritual message; however, it is subtle and goes with the flow of the story. There are violent incidents; however, there are no graphic descriptions of them.

All the characters in the novel are realistic. I cheered for the good guys and was disgusted by the bad ones.

Although this book can be read as a standalone, there are some references to the first book of the series. I was intrigued; so I borrowed Book 1 (No One to Trust) and read that too! I’m sure that I will read Book 3 if I get a chance.

Note: I received this book from Revell Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, in exchange for an honest review. I thank them for that.