Brandilyn CollinsBesprekingen

GREAT SUSPENSE THRILLER!

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Did not finish. Stereotypical hand wringing victim.

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Shortly after receiving this book in the mail I was at Burger King with my children on the Arkansas side of Texarkana. There in the parking lot was a small blue car with the entire bumper and lower part of the back window covered with bumper stickers that read "Lyme is alive and well in Arkansas". To be honest until receiving this book for review I had not given much thought to this disease. Then as I read this book a classmate of my husband was diagnosed with this very thing. How odd that God works things out in such a way to make us aware of something like this.

This book is very well written. From the first page the reader is drawn into the story with a full range of emotions. I found this book to be a little stressful simply because of the tensions within it. I felt so bad for the main character and within the first few pages developed a deep dislike for her husband. It seems so very terrible that this man would treat his own wife with such disinterest. In fact I found myself really wanting to put the book down because of this one character, if I didn't want so badly to see what happened to Jannie. Never before had I given much thought to Lyme Disease, but after reading this I have a new sympathy for those suffering from this and a new desire not to take my children for any more hikes in the Arkansas mountains!

Brandilyn Collins has expertly written a suspenseful drama that will leave readers on the edge of their seats. This one is certainly a page turner and is difficult to put down. I read it in one setting (shamefully staying up way past my bedtime) in order to finish it. A special thanks to the author for tackling a book that will no doubt bring awareness to many about a topic that needs to be seen.

Thank you B&H for this review copy.

Great book with an interesting twist.

I must get the next book!

Waiting for the next book.

The forensics of character development.

Clever book. Good mystery. Wholesome, easy, quick read.

I put this on a "to read" list probably around the time it first came out but just recently got around to requesting it from my local library. For me, it started out slowly and I didn't really get into the story and to the point of not wanting to put it down until about the last third of the book.

I did guess who the man was who broke into Janessa's house but not much before the author revealed it. I did feel there was a last minute effort by the author at trying to direct the readers's attention to a different character. I didn't feel that was set up well. I can tell the author knows a lot about Lyme disease by the amount of detail in the book.

WARNING: Spoilers may follow. Read at your own discretion.
*****

Dr. Brock McNeil is a leading name in the world of Lyme disease. He heads a committee that's planning to report that chronic Lyme is not a "real" disease. The impact of this is that it's likely those who do suffer from it will find it harder to get the treatment they need and that doctor's who do provide the treatment needed could potentially lose their license to practice or face sanctions if they do treat it.

Someone who lost a loved one to Lyme disease and its coinfections decides that the way to get this committee to change their minds is to have one of their loved ones suffering with the disease. He chooses Dr. McNeil's wife Janessa as his first victim.

Unfortunately, it seems Brock doesn't love Janessa as much as one would think a man would love his wife. It seems he's been having an affair and is planning to leave Janessa--a plan he doesn't change even after she gets very sick. He feels she's faking feeling bad (something she did as a child to get attention from her father) to manipulate him into staying. So Janessa's illness doesn't get him to change his position on Lyme disease. (At one point Janessa finds studies in his former home office that seem to indicate he's been able to replicate results that indicate the treatment he's been promoting for Lyme disease isn't always the cure-all it's been said to be, but I can't tell if that was a poor attempt to misdirect the readers into who was the culprit, if the experiments they'd tried to replicate the results were skewed by the lab assistant, or if the information was real and Brock just stubbornly refused to reverse his stance publicly.)

This was quite a suspense, who-did-it story. It kept my attention and had me turning the pages to see what would happen next.
Chelsea Adams has had a terrible vision of a young woman being killed in the woods. She thinks she knows who the killer was and gives his name to the police. When they are skeptical of her vision and no one is missing, Chelsea sets out to find the body herself. Then the police start to listen to her. But the evidence just isn't there. It was interesting to see how they went about gathering the evidence and how it can ruin people's lives when they don't get all the facts. There was alot going on in this story and the further I kept reading, the harder it was to put down.

Five stars because this is the book that first taught me how to analyze and mold my own life experience in fiction writing, especially character emotions. In one chapter, Collins makes the case that any writer who's chased a buzzing fly around a room can use that coldblooded determination to write a murderer. The skills here are important stepping stones for mastering deep point of view.

Rayne O'Connor ist eine berühmte Sängerin und gerade auf Tournee. Sie wird begleitet von ihrer Tochter Shaley, die 16 Jahre alt ist. Überall werden sie belagert von Fans und - was schlimmer ist – von Paparazzi. Gerade erst hat es Todesfälle im Umfeld der Band und deren Gefolge gegeben. Jerry flüsterte Shaley bevor er starb zu:" Dein Vater hat mich geschickt." Nun wird Rayne von dem schlimmsten der Reporter, genannt die Katze, vor ein Auto gestoßen. Sie muss ins Krankenhaus. Dort erzählt sie Shaley endlich von deren Vater.
Dies ist der zweite Band einer Trilogie. Auch wenn man ihn unabhängig vom ersten Band lesen kann, fehlte mir doch die Vorgeschichte etwas.
Obwohl die Story sicherlich über eine gewisse Spannung verfügt, kam sie für mich nicht wirklich überzeugend rüber. Shaleys Gedankengänge zu Gott waren für mich nicht nachvollziehbar eingebaut, dafür dass es ein christliches Buch ist.
Gezeigt wurde allerdings, dass das Leben im Rampenlicht nicht nur toll ist, sondern sehr hart, das man ständig unter Beobachtung steht.
Ein Buch, das unterhält, dem aber ein wenig der Tiefgang fehlt.

I chose an oldie, but a goodie, for my morning walks when I downloaded the audiobook of Brink of Death, the first book in Brandilyn Collins’ Hidden Faces series. Published back in 2004, this novel kicks off a four book series featuring Annie Kingston, a recently divorced mother of two. Seeking to protect her children from bad influences back in the San Francisco Bay Area, Annie moves them to her late father’s (a controversial and hated defense attorney) home in an exclusive fly-in neighborhood. But bad things can happen in good neighborhoods too, as Annie soon discovers when her neighbor is murdered.

Told in Annie’s first person voice and the 3rd person POV of the bad guy, the reader gets a good look into Annie’s fears and doubts and the maniacal thinking of the psychopathic murderer. Collins promises Seatbelt Suspense, and she delivers with this book. Annie, a courtroom artist, is recruited to come up with a composite of the murderer from the eyewitness account of the victim’s daughter. Annie’s discovery that she has seen the man before sets her on a investigation of her own. The action comes fast and furious as Annie uncovers the motive behind the murder. I loved that Annie explores the field of forensic art — lots of great info and insight shared. Annie is a non-believer going into the story, but her neighbors’ witness in a time of trauma kindles her interest in a God who promises always to be at her side.

Brink of Death is a great choice when you just need a suspense-filled book. It’s a quick read that keeps you turning the pages and staying up past your bed time. 😉 It is also the first book in a series that promises more of the same. And the good news is all the books are out — binge-reading here you come! Brink of Death is currently $2.99 on Kindle, and the other 3 in the series are discounted as well — all 4 for less than $18!

Recommended.

(I purchased the audiobook from Audible. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)

Third book in the Kanner Lake series. These books are so intense that they read very quick! Seatbelt suspense at its finest!!

Great ending to the Kanner Lake series. Brandilyn is one of few authors I can read in one sitting. If you love suspense without the profanity and gore, then you need to read these!

Very creepy!!