Monday, April 1, 2013

Gripping Suspense in this Police Procedural from Janice Cantore

Avenged
by Janice Cantore
Pacific Coast Justice series, Book 3
Genre Info
Available April 2013
Tyndale House
400 pages



About the Book
When Officer Carly Edwards finds three young gangbangers shot execution style, she and her husband, Sergeant Nick Anderson, head of the gang unit, fear Las Playas may be on the verge of a gang war. The Las Playas PD is put on high alert as tensions escalate between rival gangs, especially after Carly confiscates weapons from a gang leader and learns they were stolen from a military base along with explosive devices.

But something isn’t adding up, and Carly suspects there might be more going on. As she prepares to testify at a major trial, Carly’s reputation is shredded by a reporter apparently trying to discredit her professionally. Facing pressure on all fronts, Carly must rely on faith and trust God in a deeper way during one of the biggest struggles of her career.

My Thoughts
After reading the final book in the Pacific Coast Justice series, Janice Cantore may just have jumped on to my "favorite authors" list. I've been reading a TON of romantic suspense novels recently, and Avenged is one of the best I've read in a while!

I really loved Carly and Nick and their relationship in this book! Just as they would think they had things all figured out, another challenge would pop up. It was refreshing to read about characters who were struggling personally (at times) but were really trying to respond differently than in the past and love each other well. That seems to be a hard balance to strike—in real life AND in fiction—but Janice pulls it off.

The suspense in this novel is gripping. The book is definitely stronger for all of Cantore's real-life experience as a police officer. The details of dealing with crime scenes, investigations, and other cops had me wondering if a career change might be in order. [Grin!] And I was glad to finally have answers to some of the loose ends from earlier in the series.

As much as I loved the plot and the characters, my favorite aspect of the book was how the author wove Christ throughout the book. Without being preachy, she tells a very gospel-centered story and I was encouraged throughout to look to Christ when things get tough.

I'm sad to see this series come to an end but look forward to reading Janice's next series. Who knows, maybe some of our old friends will show back up in future books?! If you enjoy suspenseful stories with a dose of romance, you're sure to enjoy the Pacific Coast Justice series! [5 stars]

I received a free copy of this book from Tyndale House in exchange for my fair and honest review.

About the Author
A retired Long Beach California police officer of 22 years (16 in uniform and 6 as a non-career officer), Janice Cantore worked a variety of assignments, patrol, administration, juvenile investigations and training. During the course of her career in uniform Janice found that faith was indispensable to every aspect of the job and published articles on faith at work, one for a quarterly newspaper called “Cop and Christ”, and another for the monthly magazine “Today’s Christian Woman”.

With retirement Janice began to write longer pieces and several novels were born. Janice is excited and honored to now be a part of the Tyndale Publishing House family. Accused, the first installment in her new suspense offering, The Pacific Coast Justice Series, was released February 1, 2012 and kicked off a brand new chapter in her writing career. Abducted followed in July 2012 and Avenged, the third installment in the series released in April 2013. In addition to suspense and action, her books feature strong female leads. Janice writes suspense novels designed to keep you engrossed and leave you inspired.

Janice has bachelor’s degrees in Biology (University of California at Irvine) and Physical Education (California State University at Long Beach).  She also completed graduate coursework in Criminal Justice (University of Southern California) and is currently a member of American Christian Fiction Writer’s and Sisters in Crime.  She attends Rim Church in Running Springs California and lives in the small town of Green Valley Lake in the mountains of Southern California. Janice is single and has three Labrador Retrievers, Jake, Maggie and Abbie. Janice’s hobbies are reading, cross-stitching, kayaking, hiking, walking the dogs and trying to stay fit.

Janice Cantore Online
Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter

2 comments:

  1. Great review of a great book! I loved this book when I read it!

    ReplyDelete

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