Nightshade

Title: NIGHTSHADE
Author: Ronie Kendig
Publisher: Barbour Books
July 2010
ISBN: 978-1-60260-777-4
Genre: Inspirational/contemporary

Former Navy SEAL Max Jacobs is suffering from PTSD. His rage is uncontrollable, and he believes all is just as it ever was, except for the horrible nightmares. But trying to get situated into real life is trying after seeing the horribleness of war, and now Max’s wife, Sydney has filed for legal separation, with divorce pending.

Sydney still loves Max, but when he refuses to get help for his anger issues, she doesn’t know what else to do. Her brother insists that she place a restraining order against Max, not allowing him within fifty feet of her. Sydney gives in, but she continues to break the restraining order herself to talk to Max.

When Max tries to kill himself, the man who’d been following him for days is first on the scene and takes him to a warehouse. There Max in introduced to a bunch of “discarded heroes” like himself that are needed for a black-ops. Max is unable to resist the call of duty and signs on.

The group handles everything with precision and lethal skill—until they are clled to rescue a missionary family from the revel-infested jungles and must not only avoid an enemy, but also a reporter hunting their identities.

NIGHTSHADE is book one in Ms. Kendig’s Discarded Heroes series. The book started a bit slow for me, but once the pace picked up I was unable to put the book down and had to keep reading to find out what happened next. Ms. Kendig is definitely a writer to watch.

Sydney and Max are both realistic characters, as well as some of the other characters that Max works with—and Sydney as well. I enjoyed getting to know this cast and am looking forward to reading the other books in this series. $12.99. 367 pages.