He shows up when all hope is lost.

Murphy Shepherd has made a career of finding those no one else could—survivors of human trafficking. His life’s mission is helping others find freedom.

But then the nightmare strikes too close to home .

When his new wife, her daughter, and two other teenage girls are stolen, Murphy is left questioning all he has thought to be true. With more dead ends than leads, he has no idea how to find those he loves.

After everything is stripped away, love is what remains.

Hope feels lost, but Murphy is willing to expend his last breath trying to bring them home.

THIS IS BOOK TWO!

I grabbed this book from Libby never realizing or imaging that it might be part of a series, so I was a bit confused when I started listening. Martin does tend to jump into his books and explain as he goes, so I figured that’s what was happening (I just thought this was a more badly written book). Nope. Turns out this is book two, so make sure you know that before you pick it up.

Even as book two and not knowing anything about book one, I was able (eventually) to figure out what was going on and get into the story. I do recommend starting with book one though.

This is a hard book to “like” because of the subject matter. I appreciate that Martin doesn’t shy away from those topics. I find it interesting though that he actually takes a bit of a romantic approach to his books. One of the issues I hear about romance novels is how the heroes are perfect, yet Martin’s characters tend to be the same–they have all the money, skills, equipment, etc. to do what’s needed. I actually appreciate that about his books–if you’re going to tackle a topic like human trafficking, I want to have hope that there are people fighting like hell to combat it.

I also appreciate that he doesn’t have his characters only rescue the victims physically–that’s only the first step. Each victim goes through mental, emotional, and spiritual healing as well (though he doesn’t specifically mention the spiritual side). I also love that he stays true to Scripture without saying he’s doing it–Martin shows that there IS complete emotional healing possible. He doesn’t say that it’s possible through Jesus, but he shows it in his characters’ actions and words.

Overall, quite classic Martin. If you enjoyed his earlier books, I think you’ll like this one (just read The Water Keeper first).

PG-13 for subject matter. Get your copy here.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.