Review: Deadly Ties by Vicki Hinze |

Title: Deadly Ties (Crossroads Crisis Center, Book 2)
Author: Vicki Hinze
Released: February 8, 2011
Publisher: WaterBrook Multnomah
Pages/Format: 336 (Galley)
Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense
Source: Publisher

A horrific crime shatters Lisa Harper’s idyllic childhood. Her father is dead and her desperate mother, Annie, quickly marries Dutch Hauk, an abusive monster who soon reveals his hatred for Lisa. To protect her, Annie defies her ruthless husband and forfeits custody to a trusted friend. Enraged, Dutch vows to keep Annie and Lisa apart–and he does. Years later, though keenly aware of Dutch’s evil intent, Lisa and her mother seize a chance to be a family, safe in a home where love dwells. But they fail to fathom how far Dutch will go to keep his vow.

Determined to control his women, Dutch proves resourceful. His associates in crime are feared at the highest levels across the globe–and for Lisa they plan a fate worse than death. Yet she too has formidable connections, including former Special Operations Officer Mark Taylor. Burdened by his own traumatic past, Mark has loved Lisa from afar. Now, for Lisa and her mother to survive, Mark must risk his life–and even more difficult for him, he must trust God. All as one question haunts them: Can Mark and Lisa untangle these deadly ties before it’s too late?

One Sentence Review: While the romantic element of the book didn’t impress me, the thrilling action-packed plot kept me glued to the page and I found the overarching message of faith in the midst of suffering inspiring and encouraging.

In-Depth Review

I liked the suspense in Vicki Hinze’s first Crossroads Crisis Center novel, Forget Me Not, and so decided to give Deadly Ties a shot. This second installment in the Crossroads Crisis Series focuses on the unfolding drama of Mark Taylor and Lisa Harper, two minor characters from the first novel, while the main characters from book one (Ben Brandt and Kelly Walker) fade to the background of the story.

My first impression is that Deadly Ties is a big step up from Forget Me Not. The plot was more complex and suspenseful, the history of the two main characters was more interesting, and I was up ’til one in the morning trying to figure out what was going to happen next. That being said, I did have a few quibbles with the dialogue (particularly Mark’s voice) and the sub-plot of his evolving relationship with Lisa.

I found some of Mark’s dialogue with Lisa to be slightly off somehow. In love or not, I just couldn’t picture a hardened former Special Ops officer speaking like melted cheese. Maybe that’s just the norm in romance novels (this one is classified as romantic suspense by the publisher), but it felt a little contrived to me.

I was also a tad bit confused about the timeline of Mark and Lisa’s relationship. I got the impression that they were both in love but not aware that the other person was in love too (that is until Lisa’s party in chapter eight). But then as Mark is moping around the hospital in chapter eighteen he remembers a walk-and-talk he and Lisa took on the beach a couple of years earlier. Judging from that scene, I find it hard to believe that either of them could not know the other person was in love. This seemed highly unrealistic to me.

On the positive side, and to put the previous two paragraphs in perspective, the primary focus of the plot–Lisa’s unconventional warfare with her sadistic stepfather–is extremely compelling and there are plenty of exciting twists and turns to keep the reader superglued to the pages. One of the reasons I like Deadly Ties is that the romantic element of the plot takes a backseat to the heart-stopping action.

Hinze also inserts the element of faith into the plot very well. Mark and Lisa grapple with the age-old questions, “Where is God when I’m surrounded by so much evil?” and “How do I keep a proper faith perspective of God when I can’t see beyond my own pain?” The faith-related dialogue and thoughts do not have that feeling of being tacked on just to qualify it as a Christian book, but are genuine expressions of the suffering believer. And the overarching message of the book is one more people need to take to heart: God is good, no matter what the circumstances, and He is faithful to work all things together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).

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About Vicki Hinze:

Vicki Hinze is an award-winning author of twenty-four novels, three nonfiction books, and hundreds of articles. She is active in Romance Writers of America and serves as vice president on the International Thriller Writers board of directors. Vicki lives in Florida with her artist husband, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel.