Deceit

Title: DECEIT
Author: Brandilyn Collins
Publisher: Zondervan
June 2010
ISBN 978-0-310-27644-9
Genre: Fiction/Christian Suspense

This latest installment in Brandilyn Collins’ series DECEIT is every bit the page-turner that you would expect from this savvy writer, although I admit to the necessity of a learning curve before I could get into the book. This is the first time I’ve heard the term “skip tracer,” the title given to those individuals who are particularly skilled at “tracing,” i.e. locating, those who have “skipped” town. Of course, explaining the art and science of skip tracing is nowhere near as easy as defining the term. The author has done a remarkable job of making a meticulous, time-consuming, brain-numbing (for me) profession understandable, even enjoyable.

In this novel Joanne Weeks, the skip tracer aforementioned, has finally got the break needed to potentially put two murder cases to rest, and the murderer behind bars. All she has to do is find the body of her best friend, who was killed seven years ago, and find the eye-witness to the murder: a foster child with a scary past and an even scarier future, if the murder suspect happens to find her before Joanne does. Throughout the book, Ms. Collins weaves the ever-present threads of a God who is bigger than the problems facing us, and who ultimately delivers justice, as well as dispensing his grace. Seatbelt Suspense is a timely tag for this author: make sure you’re buckled in before you open the book. 314 pages. $14.99.