Point of Danger – Irene Hannon – Triple Threat #1 – Revell – Published 6 October 2020

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Synopsis

Radio talk show host Eve Reilly is used to backlash from her pot-stirring on-air commentary and interviews, but now it seems a disgruntled listener is resorting to more than angry words to express their displeasure. When a suspicious package arrives on her doorstep, Eve turns to law enforcement for help.

Police detective Brent Lange can’t find any evidence to link the string of unsettling incidents that follows, but he’s convinced they’re connected. As the harassment grows more menacing, it becomes clear someone wants Eve’s voice silenced–permanently.

But unless he can track down her foe, fast, the gutsy woman who is willing to take risks for what she believes–and who is swiftly winning his heart–may not survive.

My thoughts

I have been a fan of Irene Hannon’s suspense novels for a long time. They follow a consistent pattern of strong characters solving complex cases. While I loved the suspense in this book, with misdirects, lots of perspectives from different characters to confuse the reader as to who was behind everything and a massive surprise when the bad guys were revealed, the book has a political undercurrent that comes through the characters’ actions and statements, as well as the positioning of other characters and events, which detracted from my enjoyment of the story.

Eve Reilly hosts a radio talk show where she shares and defends her controversial, conservative beliefs. But when a bomb is left on her doorstep, it seems someone wants her to stop talking. With the help of Police Detective Brent Lange, Eve decides she won’t back down as the police try to discover who is behind the threats, even as more threats emerge and grow increasingly menacing.

The romance between Eve and Brent evolves in Hannon’s usual style, with instant attraction and a growing connection between the characters as they work the case. Eve and Brent also have the opportunity to talk about their past relationships.

Eve doesn’t shy away from speaking about and defending her beliefs. Most of the controversial topics she speaks about on her radio show are not mentioned directly in the book, but from things she thinks, says and does the reader can gather that Eve strongly believes in the constitutional right to carry weapons, is against abortion, and is a strong Republican. The book also makes mentions of protests and violence started and carried out by antifa groups (but makes no mention of far-right groups causing violence or starting violent protests) and the book makes statements such as the following:

“Disputes about discrimination or race relations or anarchy or a dozen other lighting-rod issues could rip a community apart.” (not that discrimination and racial inequality are what rip apart communities).

“Thank God there were men and women who were willing to put their life on the line every day to keep citizens safe, despite the constraints and lawsuits and vilification that had become part of a career in law enforcement.”  (and nothing about the effect of men and women who have committed atrocious acts in the name of law enforcement, or corruption or police violence.)

For some readers, I realise this will be a nice reflection of their own views, and for others it will be confronting.

The character perspectives are many in this book and they very quickly jump from character to character. It was sometimes hard to keep up, and I found myself rereading passages to figure out whose head I was in now. However, these multiple viewpoints gave the author many opportunities to provide false leads and multiple suspects, which increased the tension.

The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.

More information

Category: Adult fiction

Genre: Christian mystery-thriller.

Themes: Radio, politics, detective, romance, bombs, threats.

Published: 6 October 2020 by Revell.

Format: Hardcover, paperback, ebook. 368 pages.

ISBN: 9780800739058

Find it on Goodreads