One Wrong Move by Dani Pettrey – Interesting Storyline, Likeable Characters, But Too Many Characters and Subplots

 

I enjoy reading mystery and suspense books and was excited to read Dani Pettrey’s newest novel One Wrong Move, the first book in the Jeopardy Falls series. 

 

Christian O’Brady’s received a frantic phone call from his client Tad Gaiman about a break-in and theft at his art gallery in Jeopardy Falls.  Christian had installed state of the art security system at all three of Gaiman’s art galleries.  When Christian arrived on the scene, he learned that the impenetrable system was compromised by his client and a mystery-women he had met the night before.  Christian will be working with Sheriff Brunswick and insurance investigator Andi Forester to find out what happened.  When news comes out about break-ins at Tad’s other art galleries, this case just got a lot more complicated.

 

The premise of this storyline is interesting and many characters were likeable.  There was a lot going on in this story.  There were a lot of characters, Christian’s brother and sister worked with him, along with a work associate.  Christian’s brother Deckard knew of Andi, but under a different name, and what he knew about her was not good.  Andi had a lot of baggage and had left her last job with the FBI under a cloud of suspicion.  Not a lot of people believed in her innocence, except for friend Harper. 

 

Andi was not the only person with personal baggage.  Christian, Deckard, and their sister Riley had a rough start and had battled putting their past and the memories behind them.  It seems like everyone’s past was coming back to haunt them.

 

I had some problems with this book from the start.  At the beginning there are two brutal murders that take place and were told from the point of view of the bad guys.  It seemed over the top and especially ugly which surprised me in a book from a Christian writer and publisher.  It did not make the story better and I thought about putting the book down.  There were multiple bad guys and keeping track of them was challenging. 

 

There was a whole lot of past baggage with the main characters, almost everyone of them.  They were likeable, but it was a lot of issues to get through.  Perhaps the volume of issues took away from the storyline. 

 

The Christian faith was somewhat included, but was not deeply developed.  The physical attraction between some of the character could have been toned down some.  There were some illogical decisions or risks that were taken that did not make sense.  I didn’t quite believe the ending.  With two brutal murders and other violence in addition to major high end art theft, it did not seem logical that law enforcement would be on site to get the bad guys. 

 

There were elements that I liked in One Wrong Move, likeable characters, and an interesting storyline.  But it was overwhelmed by the number of characters with lots of baggage and details.  I like Dani Pettrey’s writing, but this story kind of detracted from itself by the volume of characters and subplots. 

 

I would like to thank Bethany House Publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a complimentary copy of One Wrong Move by Dani Pettrey.  I was under no obligation to give a favorable review. 

 

The Deadly Shallows by Dani Pettrey – Suspense, Mystery, Relationships and Faith

As someone who enjoys suspense novels, I was excited read Dani Pettrey’s newest book, The Deadly Shallows, the third book in the Coastal Guardians series. 

 

Brooke Kessler, is attending a Flight Medic A-School graduation to support her friend Molly.  Like a story ripped out of today’s headline news, in the middle of the ceremony there’s unimaginable horror when someone begins shooting into the crowd.  Brooke, Noah Rowley, and their fellow Coast Guard team members will begin the long process of investigating who is responsible for this tragedy and bring them to justice. 

 

One of my favorite parts of The Deadly Shallows was the relationships between co-workers who had become trusted friends.  Many of the characters returned from the first two novels in this series.  The author captures the sense of friendships and commitment to one another.  I appreciated that faith was part of the character’s lives, most notably through prayer.  I liked that novel was clean, no profanity or immorality by the main characters.

 

There were a lot of twists and turns in this story, a couple of romances between characters and two mysteries going on.  I like how Noah worked through the painful memories he had as a child that continued to impact his life.  The story did drag a little bit.  There was one romantic scene that could have been dialed down some.  

 

Overall, I really liked The Deadly Shallows.  I like mystery and suspense.  But what I appreciated most was the relationships, with likable characters and their faith being part of the story.

 

If you like mystery and suspense, or stories based around the military, relationships and faith, you may want to read The Deadly Shallows by Dani Pettrey.

 

I would like to thank Bethany House Publishers and NetGalley for an opportunity the read a complimentary copy of The Deadly Shallows by Dani Pettrey.  I was under no obligation to give a favorable review. 

 

The Crushing Depths by Dani Pettrey – Romance, Mystery and Suspense

The Crushing Depths by author Dani Pettrey is the second book in her Coastal Guardians series.  The storyline is why I wanted to read this book. 

The Dauntless is an oil rig 38 miles off the coast of North Carolina.  Greg Barnes has had a very bad day and he’s looking forward to having a cigarette break.  When he steps outside, he can hear the environmental protesters chanting.  Do they ever take a break?  When he flicks his lighter, little does he know that his day is going to get a whole lot worse.  Was this a tragic accident or something more sinister?  Former friends are reunited when Rissi Dawson and Mason Rogers are called in to investigate the accident as part of the Coast Guard Investigation Services team.  Before investigators can even reach the Dauntless the action heats up.   

What I really liked most about this book was the relationship between Rissi and Mason.  Especially learning of their friendship from when they were young.  I liked the support that the CGIS team gave one another and their friendships.  I appreciated that faith was included through prayer.  I would like to have seen the characters personal faith developed further.  It was interesting learning about what it’s like working on an oil rig out in the ocean.  Those are some of the elements that worked well.

I struggled with the book in a few areas.  There were so many characters that it was kind of hard to keep track.  While I liked the characters, Noah and Brooke, I thought that the storyline involving these characters didn’t advance the main story and was almost a distraction.  I think another book about Noah would be good.  There was a lot of action and at times the story dragged switching between the main story and the one involving Noah. 

Something that seemed odd was the personal relationships and romance that developed between characters that worked together, especially in light of how that is viewed in today’s culture.  Since there was a deep bond between Rissi and Mason focusing on their physical attraction seemed unnecessary and perhaps not what I would expect in a book by a Christian author. 

I thought that the transitions between storylines within chapters could have been handle better.  I would recommend some kind of a break, like a line, to show the story is now focusing on different characters or have shorter chapters. 

If you are a fan of Dani Pettrey or like romantic mysteries, suspense or stories that involve the military you may want to read her newest book The Crushing Depths. 

I would like to thank Bethany House Publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a complimentary copy of Dani Pettrey’s newest book The Crushing Depths.  I was under no obligation to give a favorable review. 

Blind Spot by Dani Pettrey – Confusing, Too Many Characters and Too Many Plots

I was exciting at the opportunity to read Dani Pettrey’s newest book Blind Spot which is the third book in the Chesapeake Valor Series. 

Previously, I had read her book Submerged and found she did a really good job in writing about relationships.  The plotline was interesting and intriguing and the characters were well developed.  

Blind Spot couldn’t be any more different.  It was plot, plot, plot, lots of action and filled with many characters.  This is the third book in her current series, but there was no recap to bring the readers up to speed on the characters who carried over from the first two books.  I would have found it helpful to have a page at the beginning of the book with the names of the characters and a brief description about them and their history.  A number of times, I came across a name, and I had to search back to see if that person’s name had previously been mentioned because I didn’t recall anything about them.

As a side note, a number of the characters have names that are not immediately identifiable as male or female names.  Names like Tanner Shaw, Declan Grey, Avery, Finley, Griffin and Parker.  That made the confusion of too many characters even more confusing.  I found myself very grateful for two characters name Kate and Luke. 

There are two main plots going on and subplot in the background.  There’s storyline of embezzlement, murder and suicide and a second storyline of terrorism, smuggling of arms and people and human trafficking.  The storylines didn’t merge in the end.  The plots seemed to compete against each other.  As I was reading the book, I was trying to figure out how they would relate, but they never did come together. 

Some of the scenes were rather implausible.  The reasoning and deduction of the FBI agents to explain what had happened or what was going on seemed to be missing some in between steps or information.

Overall, I found the book confusing because of so many characters that the reader knew nothing about unless they had read the earlier books in the series.  Going back and forth between plotlines that had nothing to do with one another was not a good way to tell a story.  I think it would have been better to focus on one plot and develop a fewer characters. 

The Christian faith was mention somewhat.  It wasn’t a big part of the storyline.  There a few prayers.  But overall it was lacking depth and meaning. 

When I read a fiction book, I want to care about the characters.  Even if they are not likeable, I want to know them and what makes them tick.  I didn’t care about these characters.

I really wanted to like Blind Spot because of Dani Pettrey’s earlier books.  But I didn’t much care for it.  If you like her writing, I would suggest starting with book one in this series, that way you will be better able to track with characters and storylines, some of which carryover from earlier books. 

I would like to thank Bethany House Publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read Blind Spot by Dani Pettrey for free.  I was under no obligation to give a favorable review.