Race Against Time

Title: RACE AGAINST T IME
Authors: Kimberley and Kayla R. Woodhouse
Publisher: Broadman & Holman
November 2011
ISBN: 978-14336-7117-3
Genre: Inspirational/suspense

Zoya Naltsiine is thirteen years old. While out running the dogs that her mother breeds and sells in the kennels, she witnesses a murder. The killers see her and make an attempt on her life, but she gets away with only a flesh wound.

Anesia is desperate to protect her daughter from these unknown killers, but doesn’t know where to turn or who to trust. When someone breaks into her house while Zoya is still in the hospital and leave a threatening note. She needs full time help at the kennel, but now, foremost in her mind is the attempted murder of her daughter…would any of the men she interviews be the murderer come to finish the job?

Sean Connelly is fleeing his own demons. He’s in awe of Alaska and is offered the job at the kennels after the police detective assures Anesia he’s clean. But then Sean discovers macro-chips bearing secrets implanted in the Naltsiine Kennel’s dogs.

Could the macro-chips be related to the murder? Could strange accidents be more attempts to ‘silence’ Zoya? And what is Zoya disobeys the stiff rules her mother puts in place to attempt to keep her daughter safe?

RACE AGAINST TIME is the sequel to No Safe Haven. I love the Alaskan setting and that the book starts in the middle of the action and the suspense is able to grip you from page one and doesn’t let go. I would recommend reading No Safe Haven before reading this book, as the characters in that book are major secondary characters in this book, and the mystery in book one is referred to several times at the beginning, so readers will want to be up-to-speed with what happened.

I enjoyed getting to know Zoya, Anesia, and Sean. Sean was an especially interesting character. The typical hero, good, kind, considerate, and polite. Anesia and Zoya were both very strong heroines, both determined that things would be done their way—“You do it my way, no highway option.” If you are looking for a good suspense novel to read, then RACE AGAINST TIME is one to consider. It involves murder, suspense, action, and dog sled racing, and is set in Alaska. A wonderful combination. $14.99. 352 pages.