Salvation Station by Kathryn Schleich

Author : Kathryn Schleich 

Title : Salvation Station 

Published : 2020

Publisher : She Writes Press

Pages : 328

Genre : Crime Thirller 

     Despite her years of experience investigating homicides for the force, Captain Linda Turner is haunted by the murders of the Hansen family. The two small children, clothed in tattered Disney pajamas, were buried with their father, a pastor, in the flower garden behind a church parsonage in Lincoln, Nebraska. But Mrs. Hansen is nowhere to be found--and neither is the killer. In St. Louis, the televangelist Ray Williams is about to lose his show--until one of his regular attendees approaches him with an idea that will help him save it. Despite his initial misgivings, Ray agrees to give it a try. He can't deny his attraction to this woman, and besides, she'd assured him the plan is just--God gave her the instructions in a dream. 

     I was given a copy of this book for free in return for my fair and honest review. There was a lot to take in when reading the blurb for this book. Multiple stories lines all intertwining to tell a grand story. I suppose there were a few things that drew me into giving this author work ago. There are of course the usual elements of crime and mystery that will always pique my interest. But I suppose one thing that drew me in was the additional elements of religion. While my country is by default a  Christian one it's really not something that takes up a lot if any thought to most people. And one thing to the best of my knowledge we definitely don't have is Televangelists. It's not a medium that seems to have passed over the pond. My knowledge of them to be fair is usually in some article about a crooked one from America. I was hoping this could bring a new element to a genre that I'm more than familiar with.

     Kathryn certainly set herself a high bar when setting out to write this story, there were a great many characters for me to sink my teeth into. It allows for a great river to run through this book which kept on pushing me further into this dark world. Firstly Turner is a perfectly crafted police Captain, she brought to the table everything I usually look for in such a person. There is a dogged determination that means she would never forgive herself for giving up on a victim. Letting their voice sink back down into the mire is simply not in her wheelhouse.  For me, she came off the page as a person who genuinely cares and that I think is an admirable quality Kathryn gave me a look into a world as for mentioned I knew little about. This needs to reach as many people as possible with his words.  And while it still remains a world very alien to me it did give the story for me a new layer and went into a place that you can imagine as going very wrong. 

     Overall I could tell this author put a great deal of thought and effort into the story she wanted to tell. the two interchanging timelines allowed her story to breath out and never feel like it was running into dead ends. I was kept guessing the whole time as I not only tried to piece together the puzzles of the individual stories but to also rack my brains as to how they would come to fit together and give to me the complete picture. I really do commend her as she kept me guessing for a lot longer than I thought it would. She also does something that great crime novels do and asked question of me as a reader that goes beyond its predefined genre. For me at least I want books to go beyond and to make me question what I may have expected of any given subject. I suppose one of the big things in here for me is this notion of faith and if blind faith can ever be a truly good thing. Much like me as a reader should we not always question what we are being presented with. Maybe if it all seems too good to be true then we already have our answer.

     Salvation Station is Schleich's first full-length fiction book and as a first inning, I would say she did a great job. It was a book that gave me what I was looking for on these rainy evenings.  Two worlds both very dark in their own ways. With people looking to take what does not belong to them be it the life of another, fame or just good old-fashioned greed of money. Faith can be a dangerous thing in the wrong hands, but maybe it might also just bring justice to a family who is slowly being forgotten.