Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Date of Publication: September 3, 2019
Number of Pages: 400
There’s a killer on the loose in Galveston, targeting law enforcement officials and using a fatal injection of snake venom to take them down. Authorities have reasons to believe the Veneno gang is behind the hits, and FBI Agents Leah Riesel and Jon Colbert team up to track down those responsible. Their best lead is an eyewitness who identifies a young man dumping the third body on a church doorstep. But their suspect has gone into hiding, and those closest to him are reluctant to reveal anything that might help investigators find him.
As Leah and Jon check connections among the victims and dig deeper into motives, they discover appearances may be deceiving. Someone is desperate to keep their secrets hidden, and Leah and Jon must face their greatest fears in order to stop the next fatal strike.
Clueless Gent’s Rating
Fatal Strike is a 400-page rollercoaster ride! It started off rather slow – with just a few twists and turns. As it turned out, the slow start was necessary so DiAnn Mills could get all her puzzle pieces on the table.
Although it took the first two-thirds of the story to “set the scene” for the climax, the last third was so thrilling that I read it in one sitting.
The Cast of Fatal Strike
There were quite a few characters in this story. If there were any more, it would have been challenging (to me) to keep them all straight. However, I don’t hold that against the author.
One of the things I really loved about this story was the way some characters switched from good guy to bad guy. It really kept me on my toes. Throughout the story, whenever a new tidbit of information was revealed about one of the characters, I processed it very carefully, always putting it into the perspective of the story. It was fun, but it turned out that I was wrong about several of the characters. That’s good suspense fiction!
The two main characters – co-protagonists – were both FBI agents. They also doubled as snipers for the bureau. However, they both kept secrets from the rest of the world. Each had compelling backstories, but each also had a distinct fear that they would have to grapple with at some point during the story.
The author kept the identity of the real antagonist(s) a secret until the climax. That didn’t bother me because the protagonists were right there with me. However, the “deeds” of the antagonist(s) were discovered throughout the story.
Technically Speaking
This was a very well edited novel. SPAG issues were pretty much nonexistent. Although, there was one word that I had never heard of before. I knew what the word meant, but I could not find that same word in any dictionary. At some point I’ll likely shoot off an email to the author to see where she found it.
As I mentioned before, the early pacing seemed rather slow. However, it slowly began to pick up, and when it started the build to the climax, there were no brakes! The rollercoaster was on the downhill, and there was no stopping it until it hit the bottom. I found it very exciting!
The story contained two subplots. One was the relationship between the main characters, and the other was faith (in God). If I have any criticism of this excellent novel, it would be that these subplots did not seem (to me) to be woven into the story as well as they should have. That is an utterly personal opinion, and it should not have any bearing on your decision to read this story.
I highly recommend this story!
+ $25 Starbucks Gift Cards
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9/3/19
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Author Video
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9/3/19
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BONUS Post
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9/4/19
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9/5/19
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9/5/19
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Author Interview
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9/6/19
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Review
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9/7/19
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Review
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9/7/19
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Scrapbook
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9/8/19
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9/8/19
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9/9/19
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Scrapbook
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9/10/19
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9/10/19
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Review
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9/11/19
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Author Interview
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9/12/19
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9/12/19
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Review
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One thought on “Fatal Strike”
Love a good roller-coaster experience! Thanks for the great review & post!