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Thursday, December 4, 2008

Dark Pursuit by Brandilyn Collins ~ Review & Giveaway Info

If you're looking for a must-read suspense novel, you've come to the right place! And if you're looking for that perfect Christmas gift for the suspense lover check out Dark Pursuit by Brandilyn Collins. Keep reading for my review below and find out how to win a copy!



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


Brandilyn Collins is known for her trademark Seatbelt Suspense®. She is currently working on her 20th book. For chances to win free copies of her work, join her Fan Club on Facebook. Here’s what Brandilyn has to say about why she wrote Dark Pursuit:

In John Milton’s Paradise Lost Satan’s followers, kicked out of heaven, boast about storming the gates and reclaiming their territory. Beelzebub scoffs at their boasting as merely “hatching vain empires” and suggests a different revengeful scheme: seduce mankind away from God. So Satan visits the Garden of Eden to teach humans the very thing he and his cohorts have learned to be futile—the dark pursuit of hatching their own vain empires instead of following God. He presented man with this “gift” of death, disguised as life. And man fell for it.

Upon this theme of man’s fall and spiritual blindness, I created the characters and events in Dark Pursuit. The story clips along at a fast pace, with much symbolism running underneath.


ABOUT THE BOOK

Dark Pursuit—A twisting story of murder, betrayal, and eternal choices

Novelist Darell Brooke lived for his title as King of Suspense—until an auto accident left him unable to concentrate. Two years later, reclusive and bitter, he wants one thing: to plot a new novel and regain his reputation.

Kaitlan Sering, his twenty-two-year-old granddaughter, once lived for drugs. After she stole from Darell, he cut her off. Now she’s rebuilding her life. But in Kaitlan’s town two women have been murdered, and she’s about to discover a third. She’s even more shocked to realize the culprit—her boyfriend, Craig, the police chief’s son.

Desperate, Kaitlan flees to her estranged grandfather. For over forty years, Darell Brooke has lived suspense. Surely he’ll devise a plan to trap the cunning Craig.

But can Darell’s muddled mind do it? And—if he tries—with what motivation? For Kaitlan’s plight may be the stunning answer to the elusive plot he seeks...

My thoughts:

I have intentionally steered clear of most suspense/thriller books. I like to sleep at night. In my younger years I read plenty of it because I couldn't sleep anyway. But having 4 kids somehow cured my insomnia (go figure!) and I really need that sleep.

I'd heard lots of great things about Brandilyn Collins and all of her wonderful thrilling books. I decided to take the plunge and give Dark Pursuit a try. Well, now my reading list will never be the same! I loved it! (I know, I should probably work my way up to saying that...but I just couldn't wait.)

I thought I was going to fall out of my chair several times. Kaitlan puts her life in her grandfather's hands but doesn't quite realize what a risk she is taking considering his mind isn't what it used to be since the accident. She decides to trust his plan even though he purposely sends her out by herself with a murderer!

She also finds out that he is using her truly life-threatening situation to advance his shattered career. Once again his writing comes before family. Kaitlan has no one else to turn to. Her prolific use of drugs in her past has come back to haunt her and will be the cause of her getting pinned for the murders.

I liked that it wasn't the obvious thrill ride that really got to me. I mean, I loved the thrill ride, of course, but it was the more subtle lines that really got my blood pumping. For example, "They hadn't spoken in at least a month," on page 71 about sent me through the roof! That sentence seems harmless enough, but wait until you read the context!!! It's what was going on in the background that made this book such an amazing read.

And I'm not saying anything about the fabulous ending because whatever I say will just spoil it. You've got to read it yourself!

Brandilyn has a gift for creating a nail-biting story without all the foul language and gory details. Instead she replaces them with mind-bending twists and undertones that make you think.


Read the first chapter of Dark Pursuit, HERE and see for yourself!


Also, check out this great interview with Brandilyn Collins over at Title Trakk.

Want to win a copy?? Don't even think I'm giving up mine! Title Trakk (which is a great site, btw) is giving away two copies of Dark Pursuit. And you don't have to jump through any hoops to enter! So go over to Title Trakk and enter, but hurry the deadline is Friday, December 5th.

3 comments:

  1. Great review! I really enjoyed this one too.

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  2. So glad you like the book, I did too! Wonderful review.

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  3. Sunny, I've had many, many favorable reviews of Dark Pursuit, and yours is the best one I've read yet. Thank you. What I like so much about your review is that you saw beneath the surface. Lots of people love the surface suspense story--but it's what's underneath that counts. You picked up subtlety of lines. You GOT the ending. I appreciate your insights very much.

    Blessings, ~ Brandilyn

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