| Exerpt: |
| "She lay back and closed her eyes. Snap. She froze, her eyes wide but unseeing. 'Did you hear that?" … A rustling. Thump! Something heavy and wooden tipped over. … More noise. Something moving. 'I th-th-think it's near the c-cabin,' Beck whispered. … 'Well just sit tight and --' The sound was nothing like they had ever heard before, and it wasn't quiet. It was so clear, so loud, that even though Reed knew it was somewhere down in the ravine, it seemed as if it was right there next to them. …What on earth …? Now she smelled something. She sniffed, first one direction, then another. …Two huge eyes, like silvery green headlights floating slowly in the dark. … Heavy footfalls, snapping, crunching! Beck plunged into the trees, looking for Reed. … Reed and Beck found the same tree in the quaking, sweeping beams of their flashlights, … The first limb she grabbed wore a shirt and gave way the moment she touched it. A bloody, broken arm dropped out of the tree. …" |
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| Reviews: |
| "Peretti successfully incorporates several contemporary detective drama/suspense thriller tropes; one of his main characters, for example, is a crime scene investigator, and welcome doses of forensic evidence and DNA analysis are thrown into the mix. But the novel suffers from too many supporting characters, and Peretti's failure to develop them greatly compromises the conclusion. … The novel's devolution into this simplistic moralism, however, will not keep Peretti fans away, and its many merits may attract other readers as well." (Publishers Weekly) |
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