Collateral Damage

“No, I’m not okay. Sharon is dead, and I think it was supposed to be me who was killed, not her.”

"They weren't home much."
“Of course they weren’t. They were too busy terrorizing, kidnapping, and killing,” Brooke muttered.

(Danger Never Sleeps 1) Collateral Damage by Lynette Eason

Narrator: Callie Beaulieu

Basic Info: ePub- 30 Chapters, 256 pages. Chirp Audiobook: 8 hours 46½ minutes. Review is 830± words.

You may want to know my thoughts on Review spoilers, and ratings before you go beyond "Likes and Dislikes". Back button to return here.

My Rating:

I recommend this 3.5-star suspense, mystery, romance, 'Christian' novel about Military Psychiatrist Captain Brooke Adams and Sergeant First Class Asher James. If you like Brain Freeman's Frost Eastman series or David Archer's Sam Prichard series, you'll like this.

I tried to line up the genre's in the significance of their relevance. Beyond a few (foxhole) prayers and a "Let's pray about it" afterthought I don't think I would add "Christian". The 3.5 star rating (see ratings link above) is probably an injustice. It's not one of my routine genres. I did sincerely enjoy the book and think Callie Beaulieu, audiobook performer, made the experience special.

Generally:
Captain Adams is deployed in a Middle East war zone. She meets with some of her girlfriends to unwind in a café, set on one of the busiest streets in Kabul. She thought The Bistro fare was amazing. Seeing Issiah Michaels, sitting at the bar, upsets her. He had promised to show up at his counseling session and skipped out again. She decides to ignore him and enjoy her time with her friends.

Sergeant First Class James has been ordered to apprehend Isaiah Michaels. He highly doubts he's a traitor as Captain Newell has informed him. He's confident Michaels will be at the small café where he likes the food. He collects his men, plan the mission, and load up in two Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) light tactical vehicles and head for the café.

Short of arriving, the first MRAP hits an IED. James and crew in the second MRAP feel the blast

but aren't destroyed. Before they gather their wits or even realize all their friends in the first MRAP are dead, they find themselves ambushed from well armed fighters. Bullets are flying. James orders them out of the MRAP before it is hit by a rocket propelled grenade.

The window next to the section where (Brook) had been seated exploded and she went to her knees. A hard body hit hers, covering her as debris rained down.

She managed to gasp in one breath and then another explosion rocked the building.

My Notable Notes:

• Bomb blows, Michaels protects Brooke with his body and dies uttering secrets to Brooke. Giving her bracelet, “Keep . . . it . . . safe . . . " With his dying breath Michaels utters "Not...traitor, tell Miranda" (wife)
• Asher arrives carries out unconscious Brooke, burned but alive, one of Brooke's girlfriends, Kat, takes photos of the trauma.

Likes and Dislikes: (Entering Possible Spoiler Zone)
I didn't realize how many plot twists and flips there were until I began the review, skimmed a few chapters, and glanced over my notes. Considering this revelation, I suspect Ms. Beaulieu's soothing voice may have eased the shock of plot twists and mystery discoveries. Neither likes or dislikes? Maybe both likes and dislikes?

I really did like the characters.

It was hard to stop for sake of sleep.

The final "reveal(s)" actually did catch me by surprise. Not The Sixth Sense kind of shock, but unexpected. Catching me unaware at the end of a novel without a clue is an accomplishment.

Trivia... After starting the review, and recalling Heather Fontaine, a dear friend to Brook Adams, worked in an emergency room doing surgery, I scoured the last three chapters again. In my quest to see if Lynette (author) slipped more than a few plot twists by me by literary magic, I discovered a twist in chapter one I might have never caught were I not sent back to the book to clarify more than one point my aging memory might have missed.

The Technical: About the writing critique?
Lynette Eason is an award-winning author who almost managed to get me to re-read Collateral Damage a second time after discovering I missed a ton of twists that normally would not escape me. If she's done some "craft thing" worthy of critique, she's been crafty enough to get me to stand down and concede all accolades that have been heaped upon her. Congratulations Lynette. You deserve all the praise you've received for your writing.

Conclusion
Collateral Damage is worth your time. Hearing Brook Adams' point of view as portrayed by Callie Beaulieu's narration was a joy.

Many of Lynette's books are portrayed as 'Christian Fiction'. When I think of 'Christian Fiction', This Present Darkness by Frank E. Peretti comes to mind. (Great series BTW).

If Collateral Damage is 'Christian Fiction' then something is wrong in the world of publishing. An Epigraph, a few prayers, and mention of God does not make for 'Christian Fiction'. I get it that the author is Christian, some characters pray, the ethos and ethics portrayed in the book come from core Christian values. This book is primarily a mystery/suspense novel teasing with 'thriller'. Before I end up climbing on a soapbox, I just want to say, don't judge books by the labels folks throw on them.

Read on: Dec 22, 23, 2020, Jan 3, 12, Feb 4, Mar 1, 2021
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Author: Lynette Eason
Narrator: Callie Beaulieu
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