ncrabb's review
4.0
Dani Settler pretty much has it all—especially for a 13-year-old girl. She has fond memories of a mom taken from her by illness and death; she has a dad who loves her and who is constantly involved in her upbringing in good ways. But there’s something missing for Dani, and she plans to do everything in her power to find answers. She was adopted, and when she asks her dad about it, he insists she needs to wait until she’s 18 before he’ll go into any detail. Since when could a 13-year-old wait for anything for that long? Certainly not her. So she sneaks off to a cyber café near her home to search for her birth mother. And one magic day, the response she’s hoped for comes in. There’s a promise to reveal more about her birth mother from someone else online. That’s the day Dani is forcibly taken from her home and transported against her will to an isolated cabin in northern California.
Shannon Flannery gave up her little girl for adoption 13 years earlier. Her community has been rocked by fires over the years that have gone unsolved. One such fire took the life of Shannon’s abusive husband, and Shannon was prosecuted for the murder. She was ultimately acquitted, and as we meet her in this book, she is about to expand her horse farm and dog training business.
But someone wants Shannon to die, and he’ll stop at nothing to make that happen. Around the same time as young Dani Settler was taken from her Oregon home, the fires have started again in the mountains surrounding the small California community. Members of Shannon’s family are being victimized by those fires, and before you get to the end of the book, several will have died brutally and violently, all surrounded by fire.
But it is Shannon the arsonist killer wants, and you’ll barely be able to put this down as the killer moves inexorably closer to her. Dani’s dad, Shannon, and the small-town police force are running out of time to figure out what Dani’s connection is to the fires and the deaths.
This book kept me riveted. Cliché, yes; but I don’t know how else to help you see it. The creep factor is vivid indeed here as you see into the mind of a serial arsonist and murderer, and I didn’t figure out who it was until the book was nearly ended and the author wanted me to know by then.
The suspense is as hot as the flames that devour life and destroy property. There’s one moderately detailed sexual description about 77 percent of the way through, and the f-bomb falls moderately often. In fact, there’s a pretty solid profanity quotient here. But trust me, my friends, you’ll consider sleeping with the lights on, and no matter what or whom you cuddle up to at night, you’re going to seriously consider broadening that cuddle horizon to include your portable fire extinguisher for a good while after you finish this.
Shannon Flannery gave up her little girl for adoption 13 years earlier. Her community has been rocked by fires over the years that have gone unsolved. One such fire took the life of Shannon’s abusive husband, and Shannon was prosecuted for the murder. She was ultimately acquitted, and as we meet her in this book, she is about to expand her horse farm and dog training business.
But someone wants Shannon to die, and he’ll stop at nothing to make that happen. Around the same time as young Dani Settler was taken from her Oregon home, the fires have started again in the mountains surrounding the small California community. Members of Shannon’s family are being victimized by those fires, and before you get to the end of the book, several will have died brutally and violently, all surrounded by fire.
But it is Shannon the arsonist killer wants, and you’ll barely be able to put this down as the killer moves inexorably closer to her. Dani’s dad, Shannon, and the small-town police force are running out of time to figure out what Dani’s connection is to the fires and the deaths.
This book kept me riveted. Cliché, yes; but I don’t know how else to help you see it. The creep factor is vivid indeed here as you see into the mind of a serial arsonist and murderer, and I didn’t figure out who it was until the book was nearly ended and the author wanted me to know by then.
The suspense is as hot as the flames that devour life and destroy property. There’s one moderately detailed sexual description about 77 percent of the way through, and the f-bomb falls moderately often. In fact, there’s a pretty solid profanity quotient here. But trust me, my friends, you’ll consider sleeping with the lights on, and no matter what or whom you cuddle up to at night, you’re going to seriously consider broadening that cuddle horizon to include your portable fire extinguisher for a good while after you finish this.
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