This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing

Nightshade
Barbour Books (July 1, 2010)
by
Ronie Kendig

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ronie has been married since 1990 to a man who can easily be defined in classic terms as a hero. She has four beautiful children. Her eldest daughter is 16 this year, her second daughter will be 13, and her twin boys are 10. After having four children, she finally finished her degree in December 2006. She now has a B.S. in Psychology through Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. Getting her degree is a huge triumph for both her and her family–they survived!!

This degree has also given her a fabulous perspective on her characters and how to not only make them deeper, stronger, but to make them realistic and know how they’ll respond to each situation. Her debut novel, Dead Reckoning released March 2010 from Abingdon Press. And her Discarded Heroes series begins in July from Barbour with the first book entitled Nightshade.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

After a tour of duty in a war-torn country, embattled former Navy SEAL Max Jacobs finds himself discarded and alienated from those he loves as he struggles with war-related PTSD. His wife, Sydney, files a restraining order against him and a petition for divorce. Max is devastated.

Then a mysterious a man appears. He says he’s organizing a group that recycles veterans like Max. It’s a deep-six group known as Nightshade. With the chance to find purpose in life once again, Max is unable to resist the call of duty and signs on.

The team handles everything with precision and lethal skill…until they’re called upon to rescue a missionary family from a rebel-infested jungle and avoid a reporter hunting their identities.

Will Max yield his anger and pride to a force greater than him…love?

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

Watch the trailer:

MY REVIEW:

Nightshade is another action packed, suspense filled thriller from Ronie Kendig that features an elite black ops military team composed of  “discarded heroes”. The two primary characters are Max Jacobs and his estranged wife Sidney. As leader of a secret military unit, Max is sent on underground humanitarian missions funded but not publicly acknowledged by the government. When Sidney, a journalist, gets a lead about one of the successful missions, she begins research for an article, not knowing that Max is part of the team. Her persistence takes her too close to heavily guarded  information that places her life in danger.

Nightshade is a page turner filled with unique and interesting characters and one rapidly escalating event after another. Character development is excellent with vivid descriptions of what it is like to live with PTSD. There is just enough romance to satisfy most women readers and more than enough action and suspense for men. All in all, Nightshade was a totally satisfying book and I would highly recommend it.