Review: A Vicious Cycle by Terri Blackstock

This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Allianceis introducingVicious CycleZondervan (February 22, 2011)byTerri Blackstock

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


Terri Blackstock is a New York Times best-seller, with over six million copies sold worldwide. She has had over twenty-five years of success as a novelist. She sold her first novel at the age of twenty-five, and has had a successful career ever since.


Besides entertaining her readers, Terri tackles issues that she hopes will change lives. Her recent book, Predator, was inspired by her experiences on Facebook and Twitter, and her concern that people posted too much personal information about themselves. The book deals with an online predator who uses social networks as his playground. She hopes the book will change readers’ online habits. Her New York Times best-seller, Intervention, was inspired by her own personal struggles with a daughter on drugs. In the book, a mother hires an interventionist for her drug-addicted daughter. But on the way to treatment, the interventionist is murdered, and the daughter disappears. Barbara, the mother, sets out to search for her daughter. Terri modeled Barbara after herself, and poured many of her own emotions and experiences into that character. As a result, many families experiencing drug addiction have written to thank her for telling their story and giving them hope. Vicious Cycle, Book Two of the Intervention Series, releases February 22, 2011. She’s currently working on Book Three.



Other recent books include a stand-alone novel called Double Minds, as well as Last Light, Night Light, True Light and Dawn’s Light (from her acclaimed Restoration Series). She is also known for her popular Newpointe 911 Series and Cape Refuge Series. Terri makes her home in Mississippi, where she and her husband Ken are enjoying their empty nest after raising three children.



Terri has appeared on national television programs such as “The 700 Club” and “Home Life,” and has been a guest on numerous radio programs across the country. The story of her personal journey appears in books such as Touched By the Savior by Mike Yorkey, True Stories of Answered Prayer by Mike Nappa, Faces of Faith by John Hanna, and I Saw Him In Your Eyes by Ace Collins.


ABOUT THE BOOK

When fifteen-year-old Lance Covington finds an abandoned baby in the backseat of a car, he knows she's the newborn daughter of a meth addict he's been trying to help. But when police arrest him for kidnapping, Lance is thrust into a criminal world of baby trafficking and drug abuse.



His mother, Barbara, looks for help from Kent Harlan---the man whom she secretly, reluctantly loves and who once helped rescue her daughter from a mess of her own. Kent flies to her aid and begins the impossible work of getting Lance out of trouble, protecting a baby who has no home, and finding help for a teenage mother hiding behind her lies.
In this latest novel of suspense and family loyalty, bestselling author Terri Blackstock offers a harrowing look at drug addiction, human trafficking, and the devastating choices that can change lives forever.


If you would like to read the first chapter of Vicious Cycle, go HERE.Watch the Book Video:






My Review:

“Vicious Cycle” is what the name implies, the vicious cycle of sin and drugs and the characters trying desperately to break their chains to a silent, ravaging enemy.

I have long been a Terri Blackstock fan and am used to her style, so this one took me a bit by surprise-- in a good way. I kept expecting to find a dead body at the turn of the next page and was always surprised. So while that was unexpected, what I found is there didn’t need to be one to keep the story going. It moved at a swift pace, the challenges for the characters battling their drug addictions, the fear for baby Grace and the child traffickers, got nail biting.

I have never had any connection with drugs, I don’t understand the addiction and have never seen anyone “high”. I could feel it while reading. It gave me chills, it was nerve wracking how clear she painted the picture, the research is that powerful. You don’t need an explanation to know what the terms the characters use mean.

This book is good. I’m giving it five stars, not only for the emotional impact, but also for the story it communicates. It gives a whole new meaning to “vicious cycle” and I think your eyes will be opened a bit more after reading it.

This review is my honest opinion. Thanks to the publishers through CFBA for my copy to review.