{"id":8244,"date":"2011-06-17T21:08:32","date_gmt":"2011-06-18T02:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/\/?p=8244"},"modified":"2011-07-08T19:25:16","modified_gmt":"2011-07-09T00:25:16","slug":"indelible-by-kristen-heitzmann","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/?p=8244","title":{"rendered":"Indelible by Kristen Heitzmann"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"<\/a>It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour<\/a><\/strong><\/span> book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old…or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Today’s Wild Card author is: <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kristen Heitzmann<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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and the book:<\/span> <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Indelible <\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

WaterBrook Press (May 3, 2011)<\/p>\n

***Special thanks to Lynette Kittle, Senior Publicist, WaterBrook Multnomah, a Division of Random House for sending me a review copy.***<\/p>\n

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:<\/span> <\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>Kristen Heitzmann\u2019s gift of crafting stories has ranked her as the award-winning and best-selling author of two historical series and twelve contemporary, psychological and romantic suspense novels including Indivisible. As an artist and musician, Kristen lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with her husband and a continuous stream of extended family, various pets, and wildlife.<\/p>\n

Visit the author’s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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SHORT BOOK DESCRIPTION:<\/span> <\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>Award-wining and best-selling author Kristen Heitzmann brings another suspense story to life in Indelible (WaterBrook, May 3, 2011).<\/p>\n

Follow Trevor MacDaniel, a high country outfitter, as he rescues a toddler from the jaws of a mountain lion. Discover how he can\u2019t foresee the far-reaching consequences of his action, how it will entwine his life with gifted sculptor, Natalie Reeve\u2014and attract a grim admirer.<\/p>\n

Find out how Trevor\u2019s need to guard and protect is born of tragedy, prompting his decision to become a search and rescue volunteer. And how Natalie\u2019s gift of sculpting comes from an unusual disability that seeks release through her creative hands.<\/p>\n

See how in each other they learn strength and courage as they face an incomprehensible foe\u2026a twisted soul, who is drawn by the heroic story of the child\u2019s rescue. One who sees Trevor as archangel and adversary, and threatens their peaceful mountain community\u2014testing Trevor\u2019s limits by targeting their most helpless and innocent.<\/p>\n

Product Details:<\/p>\n

List Price: $13.99
\nPaperback: 336 pages
\nPublisher: WaterBrook Press (May 3, 2011)
\nLanguage: English
\nISBN-10: 1400073103
\nISBN-13: 978-1400073108<\/p>\n

AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER:<\/span> <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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A veined bolt of lightning sliced the ozone-scented sky as Trevor plunged down the craggy slope, dodging evergreen spires like slalom poles. Rocks and gravel spewed from his boots and caromed off the vertical pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrevor.\u201d Whit skidded behind him. \u201cWe\u2019re not prepared for this.\u201d<\/p>\n

No. But he hurled himself after the tawny streak. He was not losing that kid.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s suffocated,\u201d Whit shouted. \u201cHis neck\u2019s broken.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trevor leaped past a man\u2014probably the dad\u2014gripping his snapped shinbone. Whit could help there. Digging his heels into the shifting pine needles, Trevor gave chase, outmatched and unwavering. His heart pumped hard as he neared the base of the gulch, jumping from a lichen-crusted stone to a fallen trunk. The cougar jumped the creek, lost its grip, and dropped the toddler. Yes.<\/p>\n

He splashed into the icy flow, dispersing scattered leaves like startled goldfish. After driving his hand into the water, he gripped a stone and raised it. Not heavy, not nearly heavy enough.<\/p>\n

Lowering its head over the helpless prey, the mountain lion snarled a spine-chilling warning. There was no contest, but the cat, an immature male, might not realize its advantage, might not know its fear of man was mere illusion. Thunder crackled. Trevor tasted blood where he\u2019d bitten his tongue.<\/p>\n

Advancing, he engaged the cat\u2019s eyes, taunting it to charge or run. The cat backed up, hissing. A yearling cub, able to snatch a tot from the trail, but unprepared for this fearless challenge. Too much adrenaline for fear. Too much blood on the ground.<\/p>\n

With a shout, he heaved the rock. As the cat streaked up the mountainside, he charged across the creek to the victim. He\u2019d steeled himself for carnage, but even so, the nearly severed arm, the battered, bloody feet\u2026 His nose filled with the musky lion scent, the rusty smell of blood. He reached out. No pulse.<\/p>\n

He dropped to his knees as Whit joined him from behind, on guard. He returned the boy\u2019s arm to the socket, and holding it there with one trembling hand, Trevor began CPR with his other. On a victim so small, it took hardly any force, his fingers alone performing the compressions. The lion had failed to trap the victim\u2019s face in its mouth. By grabbing the back of the head, neck, and shoulder, it had actually protected those vulnerable parts. But blood streamed over the toddler\u2019s face from a deep cut high on the scalp, and he still wasn\u2019t breathing.<\/p>\n

Trevor bent to puff air into the tiny lungs, compressed again with his fingers, and puffed as lightly as he would to put out a match. Come on. He puffed and compressed while Whit watched for the cat\u2019s return. Predators fought for their kills\u2014even startled ones.<\/p>\n

A whine escaped the child\u2019s mouth. He jerked his legs, emitting a highpitched moan. Trevor shucked his jacket and tugged his T-shirt off over his head. He tied the sleeves around the toddler\u2019s arm and shoulder, pulled the rest around, and swaddled the damaged feet\u2014shoes and socks long gone. Thunder reverberated. The first hard drops smacked his skin. Tenderly, he pulled the child into his chest and draped the jacket over as a different rumble chopped the air. They had started up the mountain to find two elderly hikers who\u2019d been separated from their party. Whit must have radioed the helicopter. He looked up. This baby might live because two old guys had gotten lost.<\/p>\n

In the melee at the trailhead, Natalie clutched her sister-in-law\u2019s hands, the horror of the ordeal still rocking them. As Aaron and little Cody were airlifted from the mountain, she breathed, \u201cThey\u2019re going to be all right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t know that.\u201d Face splotched and pale, Paige swung her head. Though her hair hung in wet blond strands, her makeup was weatherproof, her cologne still detectable. Even dazed, her brother\u2019s wife looked and smelled expensive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lion\u2019s grip protected Cody\u2019s head and neck,\u201d one of the paramedics had told them. \u201cIt could have been so much worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paige started to sob. \u201cHis poor arm. What if he loses his arm?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t go there.\u201d What good was there in thinking it?<\/p>\n

\u201cHow will he do the stuff boys do? I thought he\u2019d be like Aaron, the best kid on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll be the best kid no matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the Special Olympics?\u201d<\/p>\n

Natalie recoiled at the droplets of spit that punctuated the bitter words.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s alive, Paige. What were the odds those men from search and rescue would be right there with a helicopter already on standby?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t have needed it.\u201d Paige clenched her teeth. \u201cAaron\u2019s supposed to be recovering. He would have been if you weren\u2019t such a freak.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d She\u2019d endured Paige\u2019s unsubtle resentment, but \u201c freak\u201d ?<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me go.\u201d Paige jerked away, careening toward the SUV.<\/p>\n

Natalie heard the engine roar, the gravel flung by the spinning tires, but all she saw was the hate in Paige\u2019s eyes, the pain twisting her brother\u2019s face as he held his fractured leg, little Cody in the lion\u2019s maw, the man leaping after\u2026<\/p>\n

She needed to clear the images, but it wouldn\u2019t happen here. Around her, press vans and emergency vehicles drained from the lot, leaving the scent of exhaust and tire scars in the rusty mud. Paige had stranded her.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreak.\u201d<\/span> Heart aching, she took a shaky step toward the road. It hadn\u2019t been that long a drive from the studio. A few miles. Maybe five. She hadn\u2019t really watched\u2014because Aaron was watching for her. Off the roster for a pulled oblique, he had seen an opportunity to finalize her venture and help her move, help her settle in, and see if she could do it. She\u2019d been so thankful. How could any of them have known it would come to this? Trevor\u2019s spent muscles shook with dumped adrenaline. He breathed the moist air in through his nose, willing his nerves to relax. Having gotten all they were going to get from him, most of the media had left the trailhead, following the story to the hospital. Unfortunately, Jaz remained.<\/p>\n

She said, \u201cYou live for this, don\u2019t you?\u201d Pulling her fiery red hair into a messy ponytail didn\u2019t disguise her incendiary nature or the smoldering coals reserved for him. He accepted the towel Whit handed him and wiped the rain from his head and neck, hoping she wouldn\u2019t see the shakes. The late-summer storm had lowered the temperature enough she might think he was shivering.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhose idea was it to chase?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like you think about it. You just act.\u201d Typing into her BlackBerry, she said, \u201cActed without thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCome on, Jaz.\u201d She couldn\u2019t still be on his case.<\/p>\n

\u201cInteresting your being in place for the dramatic rescue of a pro athlete\u2019s kid. Not enough limelight lately?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were on another search.\u201d She cocked her eyebrow. \u201cYou had no idea the victim\u2019s dad plays center field for the Rockies?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I got his autograph on the way down.\u201d He squinted at the nearly empty parking lot. \u201cAren\u2019t you following the story?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you think this is?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou got the same as everyone. That\u2019s all I have to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou told us what happened. I want the guts. How did it feel? What were you thinking?\u201d She planted a hand on her hip. \u201cBuy me a drink?\u201d He\u2019d rather go claw to claw with another mountain lion. But considering the ways she could distort this, he relented. \u201cThe Summit?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to.\u201d She pocketed her BlackBerry and headed for her car. Whit raised his brows at her retreat. \u201cStill feeling reckless?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it\u2019s better to take her head on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLike the cat?\u201d Whit braced his hips.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cat was young, inexperienced.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou didn\u2019t know that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a chance the child wasn\u2019t dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat if it hadn\u2019t run?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it attacked, you\u2019d have been free to grab the kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNice for you, getting mauled.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it got ugly, I\u2019d have shot it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShot?\u201d<\/p>\n

He showed him the Magnum holstered against the small of his back.<\/p>\n

Whit stared at him, stone-faced. \u201cYou had your gun and you used a rock?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was pretty sure it would run.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPretty sure,\u201d Whit said. \u201cSo, what? It wouldn\u2019t be fair to use your weapon?\u201d<\/p>\n

It had been the cat against him on some primal level the gun hadn\u2019t entered into. He said, \u201cI could have hit the boy, or the cat could have dropped him down the gulch. When it did let go, I realized its inexperience and knew we had a chance to scare it off. Department of Wildlife can decide its fate. I was after the child.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, fine.\u201d With a hard exhale, Whit rubbed his face. \u201cThis was bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trevor nodded. Until today, the worst he\u2019d seen over four years of rescues was a hiker welded to a tree by lightning and an ice climber\u2019s impalement on a jagged rock spear. There\u2019d been no death today, but Whit looked sick. \u201cYou\u2019re a new dad. Seeing that little guy had to hit you right in the gut.\u201d Whit canted his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just saying.\u201d Trevor stuffed his shaking hands into his jacket pockets. The storm passed, though the air still smelled of wet earth and rain. He drove Whit back, then went home to shower before meeting Jazmyn Dufoe at the Summit. Maybe he\u2019d just start drinking now. Arms aching, Natalie drove her hands into the clay. On the huge, square Corian table, two busts looked back at her: Aaron in pain, and Paige, her fairy-tale life rent by a primal terror that sprang without warning. She had pushed and drawn and formed the images locked in her mind, even though her hands burned with the strain.<\/p>\n

No word had come from the Children\u2019s Hospital in Denver, where the police chief said they\u2019d taken Cody, or from the hospital that had Aaron. Waiting to hear anything at all made a hollow in her stomach. She heaved a new block of clay to the table, wedged and added it to the mound already softened. Just as she started to climb the stepstool, her phone rang. She plunged her hands into the water bucket and swabbed<\/p>\n

them with a towel, silently begging for good news. \u201cAaron?\u201d<\/p>\n

Not her brother, but a nurse calling. \u201cMr. Reeve asked me to let you know he came through surgery just fine. He\u2019s stable, and the prognosis is optimistic. He doesn\u2019t want you to worry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Natalie pressed her palm to her chest with relief. \u201cDid he say anything about Cody? Is there any news?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, he didn\u2019t say. I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll let you know as soon as he hears something.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course. Thank you so much for calling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Natalie climbed back onto the stool, weary but unable to stop. Normally, the face was enough, but this required more. She molded clay over stiff wire-mesh, drawing it up, up, proportionately taller than an average man, shoulders that bore the weight of other people\u2019s fear, one arm wielding a stone, the other enfolding the little one. The rescuer hadn\u2019t held both at once, but she combined the actions to release both images.<\/p>\n

She had stared hard at his face for only a moment before he plunged over the ridge, yet retained every line and plane of it. Determination and fortitude in the cut of his mouth, selfless courage in the eyes. There\u2019d been fear for Cody. And himself ? Not of the situation, but something\u2026<\/p>\n

It came through her hands in the twist of his brow. A heroic face, aware of the danger, capable of failing, unwilling to hold back. Using fingers and tools, she moved the powerful images trapped by her eidetic memory through her hands to the clay, creating an exterior storage that freed her mind, and immortalizing him\u2014whoever he was. The Summit bar was packed and buzzing, the rescue already playing on televisions visible from every corner. With the whole crowd toasting and congratulating him, Jaz played nice\u2014until he accepted her ride home and infuriated her all over again by not inviting her in.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d believed that dating women whose self-esteem reached egotistical meant parting ways wouldn\u2019t faze them. Jaz destroyed that theory. She was not only embittered but vindictive. After turning on the jets, Trevor sank into his spa, letting the water beat his lower- and mid-lumbar muscles.<\/p>\n

He pressed the remote to open the horizontal blinds and to look out through the loft windows.<\/p>\n

Wincing, he reached in and rubbed the side of his knee. That plunge down the slope had cost him, but, given the outcome, he didn\u2019t consider it a judgment error. That honor went to putting himself once more at the top of Jaz\u2019s hate list. He maneuvered his knee into the pressure of a jet. When he got out, he\u2019d ice it. If he got out.<\/p>\n

He closed his eyes and pictured the battered toddler. The crowd\u2019s attention had kept the thoughts at bay, easy to talk about the cat, how mountain lions rarely attacked people, how he and Whit had scared it off, how DOW would euthanize if they caught it, how his only priority had been to get the child. He had segued into the business he and Whit had opened the previous spring, rock and ice climbing, land and water excursions, cross-country ski and snowshoe when the season turned.<\/p>\n

That was his business, but rescuing was in his blood, had been since his dad made him the man of the house by not coming home one night or any thereafter. At first, the nightmares had been bad\u2014all the things that could go wrong: fire, snakes, tarantulas, tornadoes. They had populated his dreams until he woke drenched in sweat, cursing his father for trusting him to do what a grown man couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

The phone rang. He sloshed his arm up, dried his hand on the towel lying beside it, and answered. \u201cHey, Whit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou doing okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKnee hurts. You?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh sure. You know\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHold on. There\u2019s someone at the door.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah. Me and Sara.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trevor said, \u201cCute. Where\u2019s your key?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cForgot it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gingerly, he climbed over the side, then wrapped a towel around his hips, and let them in.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou mind?\u201d Whit frowned at the towel, although Sara hadn\u2019t batted an eye.<\/p>\n

She came in and made herself at home. Whit carried their twomonth- old asleep in his car seat to a resting place. Trevor threw on Under Armour shorts and a clean T-shirt, then rejoined them. \u201cSo what\u2019s up?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNice try, Trevor.\u201d Sara fixed him with a look. \u201cI especially like the practiced nonchalance.\u201d<\/p>\n

He grinned. \u201cHey, I\u2019ve got it down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Jaz, maybe. No claw marks?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToo public.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whit rubbed his wife\u2019s shoulder. \u201cWe knew you\u2019d worry this thing, so Sara brought the remedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

She drew the Monopoly box out of her oversize bag with a grin that said she intended to win and would, wearing them down with her wheeling and dealing. \u201cI\u2019ll take that silly railroad off your hands. It\u2019s no good to you when I have the other three.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

He rubbed his hands, looking into her bold blue eyes. \u201cBring it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mindless activity and their chatter lightened his mood as Sara had intended. She knew him as well as Whit, maybe better. Each time he caught the concern, he reassured her with a smile. He\u2019d be fine.<\/p>\n

Whit played his get-out-of-jail card and freed his cannon. \u201cHear what\u2019s going in next door to us?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAn art gallery.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah?\u201d Trevor adjusted the ice pack on his knee.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlace called Nature Waits.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWaits for what?\u201d<\/p>\n

Whit shrugged. \u201cHave to ask the lady sculptor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWon\u2019t exactly draw for our kind of customer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt least it won\u2019t compete.\u201d Sara rolled the dice and moved her pewter shoe. \u201cAnother outfitter could have gone in. I\u2019ll buy Park Place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both men mouthed, \u201cI\u2019ll buy Park Place.\u201d<\/p>\n

She shot them a smile.<\/p>\n

Two hours later, she had bankrupted them with her thoughtful loans and exorbitant use of hotels on prime properties. He closed the door behind them, and it hit. He raised the toilet seat and threw up, then pressed his back to the wall and rested his head, breathing deeply. The shaking returned, and this time he couldn\u2019t blame adrenaline. He had literally puffed the life back into that tiny body. If that child had died in his arms\u2026<\/p>\n

Midst came their mighty Paramount, and seemed<\/p>\n

Alone th\u2019 antagonist of Heaven, nor less<\/p>\n

Than Hell\u2019s dread Emperor, with pomp supreme,<\/p>\n

And god-like imitated state.<\/p>\n

Child snatched from lion\u2019s jaws. Two-year-old spared in deadly attack. Rescuer Trevor MacDaniel, champion of innocents, protector of life. Cameras rolling, flashes flashing, earnest newscasters recounted the tale. \u201cOn this mountain, a miracle. What could have been a tragedy became a triumph through the courage of this man who challenged a mountain lion to save a toddler attacked while hiking with his father, center-fielder\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

He consumed the story in drunken drafts. Eyes swimming, he gazed upon the noble face, the commanding figure on the TV screen. In that chest beat valiance. In those hands lay salvation. His heart made a slow drum in his ears. A spark ignited, purpose quickening.<\/p>\n

Years he\u2019d waited. He spread his own marred hands, instruments of instruction, of destruction. With slow deliberation, he closed them into fists. What use was darkness if not to try the light?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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MY REVIEW:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Indelible<\/a> is another fine example of why the books of Kristen Heitzmann have a reserved spot on my bookshelves. This novel opens with a bang and the tension continues to build until the very end. Although the story is told through multiple points of view, I never had any problems keeping things straight. In fact, this gave me added insight into the actions and motivations of the characters. Even the between chapter ramblings of the “bad guy” added an understanding to his tormented confusion.<\/p>\n

While the tender romance between Natalie and Trevor was sweet, it took a back seat to the sense of overwhelming danger, evil, and suspense that permeated the narrative. Even with the hints given in each chapter, the actual outcome was a total surprise to me.<\/p>\n

Indelible<\/a> is populated with several characters with unusual problems. An important theme of this story is acceptance – of others and of oneself. Several of the characters provide excellent examples.<\/p>\n

I would recommend Indelible<\/a> to those who enjoy a good suspenseful romance. I hope that the author has another Redford book up her sleeves so I can revisit the characters.<\/p>\n