Monday, October 08, 2012

Full Disclosure: Latest from Dee Henderson

My review is at the end. Enjoy!

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Full Disclosure
Bethany House Publishers (October 2, 2012)
by
Dee Henderson


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dee Henderson is the bestselling, award-winning author of 15 previous novels, including the acclaimed O'MALLEY series and UNCOMMON HEROES series. She is a lifelong resident of Illinois.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Ann Silver is a cop's cop. As the Midwest Homicide Investigator, she is called in to help local law enforcement on the worst of cases, looking for answers to murder. Hers is one of the region's most trusted investigative positions.

Paul Falcon is the FBI's top murder cop in the Midwest. If the victim carried a federal badge or had a security clearance, odds are good Paul and his team see the case file or work the murder.

Their lives intersect when Ann arrives to pass a case off her desk and onto his. A car wreck and a suspicious death offer a lead on a hired shooter he is tracking. Paul isn't expecting to meet someone, the kind that goes on the personal side of the ledger, but Ann Silver has his attention.

The better he gets to know her, the more Paul realizes her job barely scratches the surface of who she is. She knows spies and soldiers and U.S. Marshals, and has written books about them. She is friends with the former Vice President. People with good reason to be cautious about who they let into their lives deeply trust her. Paul wonders just what secrets Ann is keeping, until she shows him the John Doe Killer case file, and he starts to realize just who this lady he is falling in love with really is…

Watch the book trailer:

If you would like to read the first chapter of Full Disclosure, go HERE.

Review:

I've been reviewing Dee Henderson's novels for many years, ever since she came out with the first O'Malley novel. I started my book review experience with Multnomah Publishers back in 1997 or so. I can't remember exactly how I got started, but somehow I ended up with review copies of these wonderful new Christian novels and a sheet to fill out to mail back in. I was hooked on Dee's work from The Negotiator onward, and ended up falling in love with the O'Malley self-made siblings over the next several years.

I then gushed over the military-themed novels she wrote. Who knew fiction could be so educational? I had no idea then, but in life post-9/11 after my husband joined the Air Force Reserves, those little glossaries in the back of True Devotion and its sequels really helped this very green part-time military wife--especially when he went active duty.

All that to say, I am a big Dee fan.

But you don't want to know that. You want to hear about Dee's return to fiction with Full Disclosure.

I was quite intrigued with the novel at first, then I was upset, and finally I was glued to the book so I could untangle the plot threads which were so artfully and seemingly-hopelessly knotted. It took me awhile to read, and in some ways this was a freezer book for me. I didn't want it to end, even though I had to know whodunit.

For the most part, I enjoyed the novel. I enjoyed the characters, the intrigue was really well done, the end a surprise (and after years of reading mysteries and suspense and watching episodes of NCIS, I enjoy a good plot twist and surprise), and yes, even the romance was pretty good: not too sappy, a bit non-romantic in places, even.

I really hate to give spoilers, so all I'll say about the plot thread I didn't like is that I'm not the only one who didn't like it, and while for me it detracted a bit from the O'Malley series as an entity, it did not ruin the whole thing for me overall. It just bugged me, niggling away at my brain for a couple of days while I read the novel. I think it was akin to a bit of growing-up I'm doing, not only as a writer and a thinker, but as a reader--particularly as a reader of Christian fiction for the past 30-plus years (starting with Janette Oke's prairie novels). Stretching, a bit uncomfortable, pinching at times, but in the end, acceptance.

Welcome back, Dee Henderson. I've missed you.

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