My review of Nightshade by Ronie Kendig!

5/5 hearts for writing style, pacing, and intrigue. 3/4 hearts for healing hearts and spiritual message and insight. :) Great story!

 

About the book:

Soldiers all across the globe are returning home to their families after brutal tours of duty. They are discharged from the service. . .and on their own. Meet Max Jacobs, one of these discarded heroes, as he faces a wall of failure—in his career, his friendships, and his marriage. Failing again—this time to end his life—he is offered a thread of hope. Are covert government operations the answer for him, or will they only bring more danger and dissension upon his broken family?

My review:

Nightshade is a fast paced military thriller. I liked how the author showed that PTSD can negatively touch many areas of a soldier's life. Spiritual, emotional, mental, physical. Even relationships between friends and family. There were many complexities in this story that required solid plotting, and that was very well done. I didn't see any inconsistencies. The author did a great job with the setting as well. I felt like I was traveling around the world with Syd and with the Nightshade team. The author was not afraid to hurt the characters... a lot. Of course, that just made this reader care more. Nicely done!

This might sound strange, but to me it almost felt like a guy wrote this story because the violence and action wasn't skimmed over like women tend to do. That was a good thing in this case because it made the story that much more believable. There were enough bullets flying and things blowing up to make any guy reader happy. Now I know some ladies like that, too. Just sayin'.

The author clearly understands the way men think and did a great job showing that. Same with the strained marriage relationship and the ex-military type teamwork. The Nightshade team acted like they were ex-special ops, which made the story that much more intriguing. I want to know, who is paying for these missions and why? Maybe a future story will reveal that mystery. Meanwhile, I'll keep enjoying the ride as I dodge bullets in the sequel, Digitalis.


Nightshade was published by Barbour and released in June 2010.