Sleuths and Suspects: Dani Pettrey: Sabotaged

By Kelly Bridgewater

Back Cover Copy:

Finally Returned Home, Reef McKeena
Finds His Beloved Alaska Facing Its Greatest Threat

Growing up, goody-two-shoes Kirra Jacobs and troublemaker Reef McKenna were always at odds. Now, working together as search-and-rescue for Alaska's arduous Iditarod race, a growing attraction seems to be forcing aside old arguments. Then Reef catches Kirra sneaking from camp in the middle of the night.

Kirra's uncle, a musher in the race, has disappeared. Kirra and Reef quickly track the man, but what they discover is harrowing: Frank's daughter has been kidnapped. Kirra and Reef, along with the entire McKenna family, are thrown into a race to stop a shadowy villain who is not only threatening a girl's life--but appears willing to unleash one of the largest disasters Alaska has ever seen.

My Review:

Dani Pettrey writes romantic suspense, and as this is my genre of choice. I jumped on Submerged when I came across it at the local Christian bookstore. I have truly enjoyed every one of the five books in the Alaskan Courage series featuring the McKenna’s siblings. One of my favorite things about books is when you have the same characters reoccurring, so as the reader, you can watch them mature and grow. Pet trey writes with such passion that it shows in her stories.

As for the characters of Kirra and Reef, I loved them. We have seen them in other books, but they finally have a time to shine in their story, Sabotaged. Kirra and Reef have known each other their entire lives and have argued just as long. Reef even went so far as to date Kirra’s cousin, Megan, in a previous book. But in this book, Reef, as the hero, has chosen to change his life around and want God’s love to improve his life. After following the destructive path in an earlier book, it was nice to see Reef change and mature in this book. As for Kirra, I enjoyed watching her struggle with an issue in the past and overcome it. Her pain ripped pretty close to home, drawing a little bit of sympathy from the inside as I read how she changed and found God again.

As for the setting, I could feel the bitter cold and enjoy the crackling fire as the characters cozied up next to the warmth offered. Pettrey does a good job at allowing her readers to feel like they are trudging through waist high snow in the Alaskan wilderness.

Pettrey obtained a good suspense with her plot. It was exciting and kept me on the edge of my seat. I really didn’t want to put the book down and go to sleep. But the alarm at five in the morning comes too soon. I dived right in the next morning while waking my boys and rushing them through their morning rituals before school. I highly recommend this book to readers of any age who love suspense or mysteries. It was great! I can’t wait to read Pettrey’s new series when she finishes writing them.

I received a complimentary copy of Dani Pettrey’s Sabotaged from Bethany House Publishers and the opinions stated are all my own.

Dani Pettrey’s Bio:

Dani Pettrey is a wife, home-schooling mom, and the author of the bestselling romantic suspense novels Silenced, Stranded, Shattered, and Submerged, winner of the 2013 Holt Medallion for First Novel and the Colorado Romance Writers 2013 Award of Excellence. She and her husband reside in Maryland with their two teenage daughters.