Falls Like Lightning

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Falls Like Lightning Bethany House (July 1, 2011) by Shawn Grady

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Shawn Grady signed with Bethany House Publishers in 2008. He was named “Most Promising New Writer” at the 39th Annual Mount Hermon Writers Conference. He is the author of the novels Through the Fire, Tomorrow We Die & Falls Like Lightning.

Shawn has served for over a decade as a firefighter and paramedic in northern Nevada. From fire engines and ambulances to tillered ladder trucks and helicopters, Shawn’s work environment has always been dynamic. The line of duty has carried him to a variety of locale, from high-rise fires in the city to the burning heavy timber of the eastern Sierras.

After graduating from James Logan High School in Union City, California, Shawn attended Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego as a Theology undergrad. There he found clarity of direction and proceeded on to acquire an Associate of Science degree in Fire Science Technology as well as Paramedic licensure through Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada.

Shawn currently lives in Reno, just outside of Lake Tahoe. He enjoys spending time in the outdoors with his wife, three children and yellow Labrador.

ABOUT THE BOOK

When hotshot smoke jumper Silas Kent gets his own fire crew, he thinks he's achieved what he's always wanted. But a lightning-sparked fire in the Desolation Wilderness of the Sierra Nevadas has his team in a plane before they can even train together.

Pilot Elle Westmore has been called up to drop the crew into the heart of the forest infernos. A single mother of a mysteriously ill six-year-old, she can't imagine her life getting any more complicated.

It doesn't take long for things to go very wrong, very quickly. A suspicious engine explosion forces Elle to make an emergency landing. Silas is able to parachute to safety but soon discovers his crew can't be trusted. They're hiding something, and now Silas is on a race to save himself and Elle from the flames--and from a more dangerous threat: his own team.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Falls Like Lightning, go HERE

My Review:

If you're a fan of fire-fighters, smoke jumpers or pilots who run the risk of helping either fight fires in the forests, then Falls Like Lightning is for you. Two separate stories collide as Elle fights her demons from the past when she is called to be a pilot for the latest fires in Lake Tahoe. More experienced than anyone else over the terrain, she accepts the job. Little does she know it will involve flying over the same area where her father's plane crashed and was never found.

Silas Kent doesn't realize that Elle is about to become his pilot for the latest fire-fighting he's been called up to deal with. Dealing with a past relationship that didn't end well for her, he feels pulled in making amends with her why he left so many years ago. What he doesn't plan on is that she has a daughter who is very ill and seeking a diagnosis to help determine the cause for her seizures.

In the midst of these fires, a band of fire-fighters has come across the Independence Gold, that will make all of them rich beyond their wildest dreams and they have been called into the area where the mine is located to fight the fire. Only the two people on board they weren't counting on were Elle and Silas.

I received this book compliments of Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for my honest review and LOVED it. I could actually feel the heat from the fires surrounding them and the raging smoke filling the air. I felt the author has such an eye for details that make this story every bit as believable as if you were watching the latest on the news instead of reading a great fictional story. This one rates a scorching 5 out of 5 stars. This is my second book by Shawn Grady and loved this one as much as the first.

Tomorrow We Die Review

My Review:

In the novel, Tomorrow We Die by Shawn Grady, we find ourselves with paramedic Jonathan Trestle, who can't seem to keep up with patients that keep dying before he has a chance to help them. In the busy town of Reno, Nevada, Aprisa ambulance response time is supposed to be under 5 minutes 59 seconds. Yet lately Jonathan and his partner Bones, can't seem to make it anywhere near that mark and thus the reason for so many fatalities lately. When they receive a call to an unresponsive man, they once again believe they've encounter the classic drunk man. Yet when they arrive on scene they learn that he isn't breathing and close to death. Just before he is about to succumb once more to death, Simone Letell, passes off a note to Jonathan asking him to give it to Martin.

Able to save this man from death, Jonathan decides to check his new patient out after hours. Only then does he learn that the man has escaped, pulled out his IV's and breathing tube and has left the hospital. The only clue is the key, Simone Letell has left behind for the Crown Motel. Jonathan heads over there to ensure that Simone is OK after checking himself out of the Cardiac Care Unit and finds Simone dead outside his hotel room.

This is where the story starts to get good. Page after page, finds you alongside Jonathan to discover what mystery Simone held with Martin. Seeing nothing on the note but dashes, dots and some slash marks, Jonathan doesn't know where to begin, but believes the answer lies with finding and locating Martin. This novel is entwined with the constant 911 dispatches for ambulance service, and the unraveling the autopsy of Simone Letell. For once, this book had me guessing until the very end how this would all turn out. Like a movie in my mind, I found myself captivated in this book to the very end. Call it a cross between medical shows like Trauma or Mercy and CSI, so if you are a fan of those, this book is a must read.

I received this book, compliments of Christian Fiction Blog Alliance, for my honest review. This title is available in paperback for sale at Amazon for $ 10.19.