Title: Fatal Illusions Author: Adam Blumer Publisher: Kregel Publications Available: Now Genre: Christian/Suspense First sentence: As dusk settled over the suburban Cincinnati neighborhood, the sodium-vapor lights along the quiet street blinked and came to life on cue.
Marc and Gillian were a couple in crisis - though at first they did not seem to realize this. Marc was an assistant pastor and one of his duties was Christian counseling. Stacey, on of his parishioners, had been coming to counseling as she said she was trying to reconcile with her husband. Marc felt that she was developing a crush on him, so had a female staffer take over her counseling. Stacey continued to call him and send him e-mails, which Marc tried to ignore.
Gillian had given birth to stillborn twins six months ago. She was still grieving, visiting their graves and writing them letters. Neither confided in the other the obstacles they were up against.
On the day that Stacey's feelings got out of hand, Gillian finds a love letter that she had written to Marc, hinting at an affair. Before Gillian can confront him about it, Stacey shows up at their house and shoots Marc in the chest, accusing him of attempted rape as she runs from his home. Fortunately, he survives, but he and Gill are further apart than ever.
Together, accompanied by their 16-year-old daughter Crystal, they take a sabbatical to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in hopes that the media circle will die down in their absence. Little do they know that they are moving to the same remote area as the Magician Murderer, a serial killer who has killed 4 girls in Cincinnati. Girls that all resemble their daughter Crystal.
This book was hard for me to put down. You are instantly immersed in the murders and through them begin to know Detective Riley. A veteran cop and a Christian who is on the brink of retirement. But he can't seem to let go of this case.
Between the loss of the babies, Marc's shooting and Stacey, Marc and Gillian have lost faith in each other and where is their faith in God? You cheer them on that they will somehow be able to see how the other is hurting and open up to the love they once had for each other and the love that God still has for them.
There are a lot of twists in this book, but the way it came together in the end was very believable! As everyone begins to close in on the killer, I found myself urging them on - trying to tell them how close they were. I also loved the way it brought everything around to believing and trusting in God. I highly recommend this book! You can read the first chapter here.
It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour 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!
You never know when I might play a wild card on you!
Adam Blumer graduated from Bob Jones University with a degree in a print journalism. Since childhood he has been writing stories and has since been published in a variety of periodicals. He lives in Michigan with his wife and their two daughters.
List Price: $14.99 Paperback: 400 pages Publisher: Kregel Publications (March 5, 2009) Language: English ISBN-10: 0825420989 ISBN-13: 978-0825420986
AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:
Prologue
As dusk settled over the suburban Cincinnati neighborhood, the sodium-vapor lights along the quiet street blinked and came to life on cue. They chased the shadows from the grade school parking lot, now littered with dried leaves that scraped across the pavement and swirled in their seasonal dance of joy.
Across the way, a man in a jet-black jogging suit eased behind a tree and checked his watch as the chilly breeze tousled his hair. He breathed deeply, noting the intoxicating aroma of burning leaves, and impatiently studied the faces of the pedestrians now strolling toward the school auditorium. Anxious children tugged at reluctant parents, their excitement barely contained.
“Yes, yes,” he overheard a woman tell a child. “We’ll get there in plenty of time. No need to rush.”
He smiled. He had been that overzealous child once, but that was a long time ago. He’d grown up, things had changed, and not every change had been welcome.
His smile faded as he continued to search for a certain bespectacled face. He’d been watching her for weeks and knew everything about her: when she got up in the morning, when she went to bed, where she went each day, how she spent her time. He even knew she was failing English for the second time, even after her teacher had given her a two-week extension on her term paper. Going through her trash, he’d discovered her addiction to Snickers bars, her affection for Ruffles potato chips and cream soda, and her preference for Pantene shampoo, which added luster to the blond hair she wore long and wavy.
A familiar red nylon jacket caught his eye, and he sucked in his breath. Concealing himself further behind the tree, he waited for her to pass.
Hmm. She was so close. He could have reached out, could have touched her hair. But he steadied his breathing and let the moment pass, deciding that reason must win the battle with emotion. There were simply too many people around who might see him and remember his face. He watched as she strolled into the school with her two charges in tow, carefree and unsuspecting.
Just the way he wanted her.
He took another deep breath, surprised by how calm he felt tonight. He knew what he needed to do and realized he had the resolve to execute his plan. Now all he needed was the opportunity, but waiting had never been easy for him. He could hear his mother’s chiding words strumming across the strings of his memory.
You’re so impatient, Donny. So restless. Don’t you know that good things come to those who wait?
Time to get inside.
***
Someone was watching her. For weeks, she’d felt unseen eyes following her every move. Evaluating. Judging. But when she would whirl around, no one was ever there—just brittle leaves scudding across the empty sidewalks.
“C’mon, you two. Hurry up.”
Clutching their hands with icy fingers, Erin yanked Daphne and Thomas along to match her stride. It was bad enough that she was stuck taking care of these first-grade brats on a Friday night. Worse, the evening’s entertainment promised to be a childish, elementary school musical, and she had better things to do with her time.
She’d been planning to give Sheryl a cut and dye job tonight. Her hairdressing service brought in more money than babysitting, but her mom had said she owed the Spensers a favor.
Yeah, whatever.
Erin wished for her father right now. Divorced from her mom and recently remarried, he had moved three states away, leaving them with the mortgage and a barely enough paycheck from her mom’s job as a nighttime gas station attendant. Her mom had said he was a no-good lowlife, that they were better off without him, but Erin wasn’t so sure. She had fond memories of her dad taking her ice-skating, just the two of them. He had shown her the spins he’d mastered as a young man, when he had almost qualified for the Olympics.
Almost. Dreams are never easy, he’d told her. You have to work hard and never, ever give up.
One more year and she would graduate from high school. Maybe then she could free herself from her mother’s stranglehold and open the beautician’s shop she’d always wanted.
The lights of Bridgetown Elementary glimmered against the darkening sky, the crisp wind swirling the leaves at her feet. She wished she’d worn her jean jacket instead of the thin, red windbreaker. She pushed her wire rim glasses up on her nose and glanced at her watch, realizing that in her reverie she’d slowed her stride.
“C’mon, we’re going to be late if you two don’t hurry,” she said.
“Slow down!” Daphne cried. “We can’t keep up.”
Erin peered down into Daphne’s frustrated hazel eyes. “Look, I’ll let you wear my watch if you’ll get a move on.”
Daphne squealed. “Cool!”
Though they were five minutes late, the program hadn’t yet started. But Erin realized that they should have come much earlier if they’d wanted to get a good seat. The place was packed, and she didn’t see an open row anywhere.
Biting her lip, she spied a friend coming down the aisle toward her. Laurie was a stagehand—and, as it happened, she was also the solution to their problem. She had been saving seats for her mother and sisters, but they’d all been waylaid by food poisoning or something, and wouldn’t be coming.
Three seats. Right in front. Perfect.
Erin couldn’t help smiling smugly as Laurie escorted them to the front row like celebrities at the Academy Awards, minus the red carpet pre-show, of course. She felt the indignant glares drilling into her back from those who had arrived a half hour early to get their seats. She felt a rush of pleasure at the realization that she was the cause of their indignation.
Let them sulk. Sometimes good things happen when you least expect it.
Her mind replayed a similar thrill she’d felt just a month ago, when she’d been summoned to give testimony in a big court case downtown.
***
She’d done up her hair special, dry-cleaned her special navy twin set, and worn her new high-heeled shoes, which made her short, lithe figure seem several inches taller. Approaching the stand, she had, for once in her life, felt important; felt as if every eye in the room was glued to her, mesmerized by this long-haired, blonde goddess with the porcelain skin and sapphire blue eyes. She hadn’t realized until later how important her testimony had been.
“And you saw the defendants enter Margaret Stowe’s house?” Stan Loomis, the prosecuting attorney, had asked.
“That’s right.”
“And you’re sure it was Walter and Virginia Owens. You’re positive?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Remember, Miss Walker, you are under oath. You saw their faces?”
She had bitten her lip as she tried to remember.
She had just finished house-sitting for Mrs. Stowe, as another way to make some extra money. The old lady was loaded. She had said good night to Mrs. Stowe and had walked off, feeling giddy at the sizable check. Almost to her car, she’d dropped her keys and bent to pick them up. Hearing voices, she’d glanced back and had seen two people walking up the sidewalk to Mrs. Stowe’s front door.
A man and a woman, wearing long, dark overcoats. They had looked wealthy. The man had placed his black-gloved hand at the middle of the woman’s back.
“You don’t think she’ll mind?” the woman had asked, a musical quality to her husky voice. “It’s late.”
“You’re right. It is late. Too late.” The man’s voice had sounded rough, like a smoker’s. “She can’t turn us away now.”
Standing beside her car, Erin had watched as the man knocked. When the door opened, a band of light had slashed across their faces for an instant before they disappeared inside.
Staring unflinchingly at Stan Loomis, she had said, “Yes, it was them. I’m sure of it.” She’d pushed away the fact that the encounter at Mrs. Stowe’s house had occurred the week before she’d gotten her new glasses.
“For the benefit of the jury, would you please point out who you saw?”
Her hand had trembled as she pointed to the pale-faced Owenses, who sulked beside their defense attorney. They didn’t flinch. They didn’t move. But their eyes—they hated her. They wanted her dead. Ever since, those eyes had stared back at her in her dreams.
I have just been in to meet with my pastor and my boss. He has "recommended" that I take a sabbatical with my family to let the press die down. See, I was shot in the chest by a parishioner who claimed that I had tried to rape her, when in actuality it was because I had rebuked her. My wife is struggling with believing that I was not having an affair. (Fatal Illusions by Adam Blumer)
Rules: * Grab the book nearest you. Right now. * Turn to page 56. * Find the fifth sentence. * Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section ofStorytime with Tonya and Friends. *Post a link along with your post back to Storytime with Tonya and Friends. * Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.
"Looks like . . . she's been here . . . a couple of days at least."
Riley nodded. The stench of decomposing flesh had already confirmed that fact. (Fatal Illusions by Adam Blumer, p56)
How's that for a grabber - this would have been a good Teaser Tuesday!
Before you look at the books that I got - make some books appear in your mailbox! Check out the memoir giveaways from Hachette either in my right sidebar or here and here.
I received Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead from Doubleday Books.
From the back cover: The year is 1985. Benji Cooper is one of the only black students at an elite prep school in Manattan. He spends is falls an winters going to roller-disco bar mitzvahs, playing too much Dungeons and Dragons, and trying to catch glimpses of nudity on late-night cable TV. After a tragic mishap on his first day of high school - when Benji reveals his deep enthusiasm for the horror movie magazine - Fangoria - his social doom is sealed for the next four years.
But every summer, Benji and his brother, Reggie, escape to the East End of Long Island, to Sag Harbor, where a small coummunity of African-American professionals have built a world of their own. Because their parents come out only on weekends, he and his friends are left to their own devices for three glorious months. Except Benji is just as confused about this all-black refuge as he is about the white world he negotiates during the school year. There's always acomplicated new handshake to fumble through, state-of-the-art profanity to master, and his fantasies of hooking up with the opposite sex are no match for his own awkwardness. And let's nt get started on his misshapen haircut (which seems to have a will of its own), the New Coke Tragedy of '85, and his secret Lite FM addiction.
In this deeply affectionate and fiercely funny coming-of-age novel, Whitehead - using te perpetual mortification of teenage existence and the desperate quest fr reinvention - beautifully explores racial and class identity, illustrating how it is impossible to define an individual in isolation from his family's commnal history.
The Girl She Used To Be by David Cristofano I received from Miriam at Hachette Books. (Thank you Miriam!)
From the book jacket: When Melody Grace McCartney was six years old, she and her parents witnessed an act of violence so brutal that it changed their lives forever. The federal government lured them into the Witness Protection Program with the promise of safety, but the program took Melody's name, her home, her family, and ultimately her innocence. Now, twenty years later and still on the run, she's been May Adams, Karen Smith, Anne Johnson, and countless others. But the one person she longs to be is Melody Grace McCartney.
So when the feds spirit her off to begin yet another new life in yet another new town, she's stunned by a man who accosts her and calls her by her real name. Jonathan Bovaro, the mafioso sent to find her, knows her, the real her, and it's a thrill Melody can't resist. Defying the feds, she goes willingly with him. To the Justice Department, she's nothing more than a pawn in the government's war against the Bovaro family. But, as dangerous as Jonathan is, he presents her with the chance of a lifetime - the chance to embrace her past and present, and choose a future all her own.
I received The Unquiet Bones by Melvin R. Starr as part of a First Wild Card Tour happening on April 20th.
From the back cover: Uctred thought he had discovered pig bones. He did not know or care why they were in the cesspit at the base of Bampton Castle wall.
Then he found the skull. Uctred is a tenant, bound to the land of Lord Gilbert, third Baron Talbot, lord of Bampton Castle, and had slaughtered many pigs. He knew the difference between human and pig skulls.
Lord Gilbert called for me to inspect the bones. All knew whose bones they must be.
They were not.
Hugh de Singleton, fourth son of a minor knight in Wyclif's England, had had some good fortune. Newly trained as a surgeon, he was staring from his Oxford window, hoping for clients, when Lord Gilbert was kicked by his groom's horse. Hugh's successful treatment of the suffering Lord led to an invitation to set up his practice in the village of Bampton - and, before long, the request to identify some bones. . .
I received Fatal Illusions by Adam Blumer as part of a First Wild Card Tour happening April 17th.
From the back cover: Haydon Owens wants to be the next Houdini. He has been practicing his craft and has already made four women disappear. All it took was a bit of rope and his two bare hands.
The Thayer family has come to the north woods of Newberry, Michigan, looking for refuge, a peaceful sanctuary from a shattered past. But they are not alone. Little do they know that they are about to become part of Haydon's next act.
Time is running out and already the killer has spotted his next victim. Who will escape alive?
Visit Mailbox Mondays over at The Printed Page and see what everyone else received! (All descriptions are from book covers unless otherwise noted.) and you can also go to In Your Mailbox at The Story Siren on Sundays!
Title: Fatal Illusions
