2 New Suspense Novels

by Susan Roberts

I always enjoy reading a good suspense novel -   one that is full of roller coaster surprises and a plot that keeps you guessing until the end.

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A Fire in the Night by  Christopher Swann

September 2021; Crooked Lane Books; 978-1643857565
audio, ebook, print (288 pages); domestic thriller

A Fire in the Night grabbed me on the first page and kept my attention until I closed it at the end. The setting was perfect in the mountains of North Carolina, the characters were interesting and they all had secrets from each other.  The plot was full of suspense and surprises.  The action at times was tense and had me rooting for the main characters and the ending was just perfect.

Nick was a professor who lost his beloved wife to cancer.  After she died, he became isolated in his home in the mountains and rarely saw anyone.  He was surprised when a deputy arrived at his door to tell him that his brother and sister-in-law had died in a suspicious fire.  Nick and his brother had been estranged for years and he didn't even know that he had a 16-year-old niece Annalise.  She disappeared after the fire and was a person of interest in the murder of her parents.   Nick was totally surprised when Annalise showed up on his doorstep later that night. She was feverish and exhausted and told her uncle that she saw the men who killed her parents and know that they saw her too so she was on the run to keep safe.  Her dad had given her something to take to her Uncle Nick a few days before the murder and the killers were desperate to get that information. At first, Nick and his niece were very wary of each other and Nick wondered if his niece was telling him the truth or feeding him a story.  As nick begins to believe his niece, he realizes that they are on borrowed time and that the killers won't stop until Annalise is killed.  The killers think it will be easy to find and eliminate her because her uncle is just a retired professor of medieval studies and how tough can he be??   they make a huge mistake because Nick is just more than a retired professor -- he has secrets that they will discover if they can find him.

I thought that Nick and Annalise were great characters and very believable.  I know that this was a stand-alone it would be great to see these two characters in a future book by Christopher Swan.

Buy A Fire in the Night at Amazon

Deadly Target by Elizabeth Goddard

November 2021; Revell; 978-0800740580
audio, ebook, print (368 pages); Christian suspense

Deadly Target is a well-written Christian suspense novel.  There is danger at every turn for the two main characters and they need to find out who is behind it before they both end up dead.

Erin is a forensic psychologist in Washington State and has a successful podcast about cold cases.  When she finds out that her mother tried to commit suicide, she takes a leave from her job and hurries back home to Montana to take care of her mother.  One of the first people she sees is her ex-boyfriend Nathan.  Even though she broke up their relationship, they still have a lot of strong feelings for each other.  As soon as she gets back, dangerous things start happening to her and Nathan - his father is shot, a dam breaks and they almost drown and they both get shot at several times.  She soon begins to wonder if the accident that occurred while she was kayaking in Washington was at all connected to the current danger.  Instead of going into hiding, Erin and Nathan start investigating and end up in even more danger.  Even though they are in danger, their feelings for each other continue to get stronger.  Will they get their happily ever after ending?

This novel has a bit of everything - romance, mystery, and suspense and kept me guessing until the end.  Several times I thought that I knew how it would end only to find out in a few pages how wrong I was.

NOTE: This book is the second book in the Rocky Mountain Courage series but I read it as a standalone with no confusion but I plan to read the first book in the series very soon.

Buy Deadly Target at Amazon

Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina with her husband of over 50 years.  She grew up in Michigan but now calls North Carolina home. She enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with her family. She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and historical fiction. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with Susan on Facebook.

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