The Last Word

Title: THE LAST WORD
Author: Kathy Herman
Publisher: David C. Cook
October 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4347-6785-1
Genre: Inspirational/suspense

A Family Crisis…
A Murderer on the Loose…
And Heart-pounding Suspense… (from the back cover)

Vanessa Jessup didn’t expect to get pregnant in her sophomore year of college. She’s scared to tell her parents and her boyfriend, an almost forty year old professor insists that she has an abortion or they are through. When Vanessa decides to keep the baby, the professor disappears – he doesn’t bother to report to work and vanishes.

Brill Jessup is a police chief, and she is not expecting to have her very pregnant daughter come home for summer break. In the midst of this crisis, one of the police officers under Brill is stabbed in the station, and the suspect says that he will be coming after Brill next. Now, two officers are dead, the murderer is on the loose, and a deadbeat dad is on the run.

The killer seems to be everywhere and nowhere. How can a police chief—and mother—do her job with her life on the line?

THE LAST WORD is the second book in the Sophie Trace Trilogy series, but it easily stands alone. I didn’t have the luxury of reading the first book in the series The Real Enemy, though I think I am going to look for it, because I want to see what happened beforehand.

Brill and Vanessa are both very realistic characters and I enjoyed getting to know them. Ms. Herman is a very talented author, and she had me in her grip from page one. I couldn’t put this book down. It’s a good thing I picked it up on a quiet Saturday with plenty of time to read! Nothing would have gotten done otherwise.

I especially enjoy the Afterwords section at the back of the book where there is a letter from the author and discussion questions. If you enjoy Suspense, you will want to read THE LAST WORD. This book will keep your heart pounding until the final page is turned. $14.99. 390 pages.


The Last Word

In her second installment of the Sophie Trace Trilogy, Kathy Herman rolls

Henderson, Kingsbury, and Blackstock into one with both suspense and spirituality



Click here to watch the video trailer for The Last Word!



Heart-pounding suspense meets heart-challenging truth as best-selling author Kathy Herman returns to Sophie Trace in her new page-turner, The Last Word (David C Cook, October 2009). Based on Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the gentile,” Herman’s second installment in the Sophie Trace series triumphantly demonstrates God’s miraculous ability to heal the broken.



This theme comes to life in Vanessa Jessup, a twenty-year-old college student who becomes pregnant while having a secret love affair with her psychology professor and has to make a choice: either end the pregnancy or end the relationship. The biblical truths she learned growing up prompt her to choose life and to go home to the refuge of her parents’ counsel and a right relationship with God.



When Vanessa arrives home, her mother, Sophie Trace Police Chief Brill Jessup, is stunned to see that she’s pregnant—and by one of her professors. While Brill is glad her middle daughter rejected the father’s abortion ultimatum, she’s also hurt that Vanessa ignored her upbringing and angry that the professor has disappeared without as much as a nickel of child support.



But that’s not all Brill’s got on her plate. One of her detectives has been killed, and the attacker has threatened to come for her next. When a second cop is wounded, public criticism mounts as Brill attempts to stay alive long enough to catch the perp. And she’s trying to find the deadbeat dad as Vanessa struggles to make decisions about her future.



In spite of Brill’s best efforts to stay safe, the murderer finally kidnaps and threatens to kill her and then commit suicide. As her life hangs in the balance, Brill becomes concerned that her attacker is about to die and is not saved and refuses to be silenced in her witness of God’s love for him. In a show of grace under pressure and fierce determination, Brill will manage to have the last word, even if it kills her.



Author Bio: Best-selling suspense novelist Kathy Herman has written fifteen novels, including CBA bestsellers The Real Enemy, Tested by Fire and All Things Hidden, since retiring from her family’s Christian bookstore business. Kathy and her husband, Paul, have three grown children and five grandchildren and live in Tyler, Texas.



The Last Word Book 2: Sophie Trace Trilogy by Kathy Herman

David C Cook/October 2009

ISBN: 978-1-4347-6785-1/390 pages/softcover/$14.99

www.davidccook.com www.kathyherman.com


I have received this book from The B&B Media Group in exchange for review. No money was exchanged.