Book Review: If I’m Found

Casey Cox is still on the run, fleeing prosecution for a murder she didn’t commit. Dylan Roberts—her most relentless pursuer—is still on her trail, but his secret emails insist he knows the truth and wants to help her. He’s let her escape before when he had her in his grasp, but trust doesn’t come easily.

As Casey works to collect evidence about the real murderers, she stumbles on another unbearable injustice: an abused child and a suicidal man who’s also been falsely accused. Casey risks her own safety to right this wrong and protect the little girl from her tormenters. But doing so is risky and may result in her capture—and if she’s captured, she has no doubt she’ll be murdered before she ever steps foot in a jail cell.

Terri Blackstock is a New York Times and USA Today best-seller, with over seven million books sold worldwide. She is the winner of two Carol Awards, a Christian Retailers Choice Award, and a Romantic Times Book Reviews Career Achievement Award, among others. She has had over twenty-five years of success as a novelist. Terri spent the first twelve years of her life traveling in an Air Force family. She lived in nine states and attended the first four years of school in The Netherlands. Because she was a perpetual “new kid,” her imagination became her closest friend. That, she believes, was the biggest factor in her becoming a novelist. She sold her first novel at the age of twenty-five, and has had a successful career ever since.

In 1994 Terri was writing romance novels under two pseudonyms for publishers such as HarperCollins, Harlequin, Dell and Silhouette, when a spiritual awakening prompted her to switch gears. At the time, she was reading more suspense than romance, and felt drawn to write thrillers about ordinary people in grave danger. Her newly awakened faith wove its way into the tapestry of her suspense novels, offering hope instead of despair. Her goal is to entertain with page-turning plots while challenging her readers. She hopes to remind them that they’re not alone, and that their trials have a purpose.

Terri has appeared on national television programs such as “The 700 Club” and “Home Life,” and has been a guest on numerous radio programs across the country. The story of her personal journey appears in books such as Touched By the Savior by Mike Yorkey, True Stories of Answered Prayer by Mike Nappa, Faces of Faith by John Hanna, and I Saw Him In Your Eyes by Ace Collins.

My Impressions:

Terri Blackstock is a favorite with my book club. We’ve yet to meet a book she has written that we didn’t like. If I’m Found, book 2 in the If I Run series, received a unanimous thumbs up from us. The novel is action-packed with the ongoing story of Casey’s quest to clear her name and the additional story line of a man wrongfully accused of child abuse. As with the first book, there are some loose ends left at the end, and we are eagerly anticipating book 3, If I Live.

Most of our discussion revolved around Casey’s motivations — her need to find the truth and her innate sense of right and wrong. Casey is beginning to respond to God’s promptings, and we found that intriguing as well. While If I’m Found is adrenaline-laced suspense, the character development is well done. We loved the good guys, Dylan especially, and hated the bad guys. Because this one is the middle offering in a trilogy, there is still plenty of what-ifs. We had fun coming up with scenarios for the last book. It will be interesting to see if any of our theories come true.

For fans of Blackstock, If I’m Found is another winner. It gets our book club’s stamp of approval!

Recommended.

Audience: adults.

To purchase, click HERE.

(I purchased this book. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)

Tags: romantic suspense fiction, Terri Blackstock