Vendetta by Lisa Harris

Author : Lisa Harris
Title : Vendetta
Published : 2015
Publisher : Revell
Pages : 304
Genre : Crime / Thriller

     No one needs to push Nikki Boyd to excel on the Tennessee Missing Person Task Force. The case of her own missing sister, still unsolved after ten years, is the driving force in her work. When a Polaroid photo of a missing girl shows up at a crime scene, Nikki quickly recognizes similarities to the past. The closer she gets to the abductor, the more she feels that this case is getting personal and that she is not the hunter at all--but actually, the one being hunted. With this explosive first book in the new Nikki Boyd Files, Lisa Harris takes readers on a fast-paced pursuit of justice that will have them holding their breath until the heart-stopping finish.

     As many of you who have read my reviews before will know I love a great crime thriller. The world is awash with such books, so how do you pick one out in the big oceans of books. Well for me there either come from spending hours aimlessly wandering the shelves of my local book store or through recommendations. In this case, it was the latter, a friend of mine was on the third book in this series. As such, I wasn't entirely sure what I was going into as I jumped into this book without any real thought into what the book was about. Just some times this is the best way to approach a book.  And in this case, I was given a world of faced paced action and characters I could really sink my teeth into. 

     The book takes us into a world that is both relevant and timely. The author gets us up to speed quickly and then delivers on the premise. Which for me is somewhat of a bonus. Of late I have read to many books that have a great premise but then fail to deliver in the back end. Nikki is a character that you could get behind and become thoroughly captured with. As we follow her into her own personal hell you find yourself routing with her at every turn. There is a great charter base given to us so as well as Nikki there are others we can get to know and the author builds upon each of them so we are not left feeling like they are paper people.   

     As for the mystery at the heart of this story, it borders the line between the latest T.V show and something a bit more grounded in reality. She gave me more than enough to keep me glued to the page and I raced through this book as quickly as I could. At no point did I feel myself slipping into a swap of subplots or getting bored. For my part, I was glad to know this was part of a series as There was for me so much more to get from these characters. This was a book where the shadows seemed to creep out as I progressed. The story gets dark and dark and for something that verges on the light of the crime fiction world, it was a welcome blessing. In part, I feel this is down to the author's style. She knows what she is about and what she wants to tell us as the readers. Giving away just enough to keep us guessing without being completely lost. 

     This is a great book to spend an evening with. Due to its pace and plot, you will want to eat it up in one sitting. One thing to point out is it does also come under the Christian genre. One that I'm not used to going into. Personally, I'm not and I could see why this might put you off. But here it is done with a gentle touch that never to me at least felt like it was being crammed down my throat. So all in all if you are into crime fiction you could do far worse than jumping into Nikki's world.