MrsK Books: If I Run by Terri Blackstock

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

If I Run by Terri Blackstock

ISBN: 9780310332435

Publisher's Synopsis:

Casey Cox’s DNA is all over the crime scene. There’s no use talking to police; they have failed her abysmally before. She has to flee before she’s arrested . . . or worse. The truth doesn’t matter anymore.

But what is the truth? That’s the question haunting Dylan Roberts, the war-weary veteran hired to find Casey. PTSD has marked him damaged goods, but bringing Casey back can redeem him. Though the crime scene seems to tell the whole story, details of the murder aren’t adding up. Casey Cox doesn’t fit the profile of a killer. But are Dylan’s skewed perceptions keeping him from being objective? If she isn’t guilty, why did she run?

Unraveling her past and the evidence that condemns her will take more time than he has, but as Dylan’s damaged soul intersects with hers, he is faced with two choices. The girl who occupies his every thought is a psychopathic killer . . . or a selfless hero. And the truth could be the most deadly weapon yet.

"There's blood on the bottom of my shoes...

Blood runs down the drain.

My heart races as though it's my own draining away,

but it's not mine."

MrsK's Review:

Are you ready to spend some time on the run? From the beginning you will be on the run with Casey.

What would you do if you discovered your friend murdered? For Casey it was all about the moments leading up to the discovery of Brent in a pool of blood.

As the daughter of a detective, it was instilled in her to respect authority. She was given a belief that you trusted the legal system. You knew the difference between good and bad/right from wrong. And you "used" your intelligence to "pre-think" scenarios. Yet, all of these strengths will place Casey in the "run" of her life. Once the system turned on her family, Casey began choosing avenues that would place her in the midst of a homicide within her father's Shreveport Police Department.

Dylan is home from Iraq. The last thing he expected was to find out his friend had been murdered. Once an Army Criminal Investigator, Dylan will be hired as a friend of the family as their Private Investigator. Regardless of his honorable discharge, Dylan suffers from PTSD and is willing but not enthusiastic in doing this job. That is until so much about Casey doesn't add up to being a psychopathic killer. What is the truth about why she is on the run? Any reasonable person would have called the police, being on the run usually proves someones guilt. Why does the Shreveport Police Department and Gordon Keegan think a PI should investigate her where abouts instead of their department? What had Brent fallen into?

Miss Lucy is from Shady Grove, Georgia. On the bus with Casey, she talks about her faith. She reveals how her granddaughter Laura disappeared when she was only fourteen. Miss Lucy knows she wouldn't have run away, she had been so excited about her first homecoming. Casey considers Shady Grove as a good stopping place, especially since she can't get Laura's disappearance out of her mind.

Fast paced, ultimately four crimes to unravel, and characters that will make the hours pass.
If you haven't read any of Terri's books... start with this one!
MrsK

"I give in to the temptation to pray...

I have trouble believing in God,

but when I'm in a mess,

my mind often formulates quiet pleas.

I don't know what to ask for.

Time? Distance? And escape path?"

Amazing suspense... Is time running out?

Added to my shelf

Meet the Author:

Terri Blackstock is a New York Times best-seller, with over six million copies sold worldwide. She is the winner of two Carol Awards, a Christian Retailers Choice Award, and a Romantic Times Book Reviews Career Achievement Award, among others. She has had over twenty-five years of success as a novelist.

Terri spent the first twelve years of her life traveling in a U.S. Air Force family. She lived in nine states and attended the first four years of school in The Netherlands. Because she was a perpetual “new kid,” her imagination became her closest friend. That, she believes, was the biggest factor in her becoming a novelist. She sold her first novel at the age of twenty-five, and has had a successful career ever since.

Learn more about Terri's books...

"I received this book for free from the Fiction Guild for this review."

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MrsK's Reading Bio

Reading is important! No questions asked, not even a blink of the eye from any student I grew up with. On the first day of the First grade, we were given our first books. Day two we all read aloud, round robin of course. Day three we were place in our first basal, now known as a lit circle group. Books were so important, publishers designed new curriculum so that every student was reading by the end of the first week. These early readers had images that looked like what we could see in the classroom, beyond the classroom, even on the big screen. Reading is important, throughout history every generation has believed that “Reading” opens up the world for endless possibilities.

I adore the 1950’s Dick and Jane books. Actually, most reading specialists and experienced (45+) educators believe that every student learned to read with Dick and Jane. Since these books are being re-issued, I have heard many parents, grandparents, and students claim that Dick and Jane stories of repetition does teach students to read.

Early influences from my mother influenced my desire to read. I would watch her read and we would go on “secret” excursions to the library. The library became my playground. I owned every book I could carry home, of course they needed to be taken back to their home after visiting with me for a week or two. My first book that I could pull off of the library shelf and read was, Father Bear Comes Home. I only saw my dad on Sundays for a few hours. I would pull this beginning reader off of the library shelf every week. Every week I would try to read the first chapter. Every week I got further in the story. My mom would let me check it out, only if I could read it myself (She didn’t like the illustrations therefore she didn’t want to take time to read it to me). One day, I pulled the book from the shelf and when mom came to get me from the children’s corner, I realized that I had read the whole story. I ran to the check out desk and the Librarian KERCHUNKED the checkout card. My mother, brother and neighbors read. My teachers read. We all read aloud all day long in school. The Priest read aloud every day at mass, even in Latin. Everybody in the Doctor’s office read. People on the bus read. Dad’s waiting in their cars as the Mom’s and children grocery shopped, read. In fact, once you could read and write, Sunset Magazine considered you a reader and sent you mail every day.

Reading is important; I’ve spent my life reading. I’ve traveled around the world and into space through books. My favorite genre is whichever book I have open at the time. Children’s Literature is my passion. Book clubbing is one of the best past times, especially if food is involved. In fact my friends of old are in a book club and we are about to embark on a beach trip to “read” and discuss our newest selection.

My “home-run” book story has helped every student find his or her own “home-run” reads. Every year, I have shared my, Father Bear Comes Home, and every year my students have brought in their “home-run” books. That’s the “diving board” into our Lit. Studies.

In “Growing Up Digital,” Tapscott’s insights into the new generations enthusiasm for the Net reminded me of my generation’s enthusiasm for reading, movies, TV, parties and our driving permits. The Net-Generation, as Tapscott describes, “are learning, playing, communicating, working, creating communities, and enforcing a social transformation.”
N-Geners are interactive “techies” who are always looking for a way to “work it” verses the TV Generation of “Baby Boomers” who started out looking for “how it works.” Reading development is tougher today, society moves too fast to invest their “non-working” free time into a book or even “home work.” Since I stepped into my own classroom, I have seen students being told to read, being forced to read, and threatened into reading. Homework is not any longer the vehicle for students to gain their future lifestyles or careers with. Yet, the Internet does create an enthusiasm for learning. Since I have been enrolled in these courses, I have used the computers in every subject. My students are using the newest technology in the classroom because I am giving them investigative sites to use as they learn from each other and books. I agree with Tapscott, in order to bridge the gap with this up and coming generation we must “live and learn with them.”

FTC Required Disclaimer: I receive these books from the publishers. I did not receive monetary compensation for these reviews. These reviews have been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)