I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Blind Faith
in Paperback edition on July 31, 2012 and has 415 pages.
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First in the Caitlyn Tierney suspense series revolving around a damaged FBI agent. Events take place in Hopewell, New York, up in the mountains.
In 2013, Blind Faith won the ITW Thriller Award for E-Book Original Novel.
My Take
It’s betrayals within betrayals and some of ’em just don’t make sense. Others are so deeply hidden it’s mindblowing. Then there are the facts which just don’t make sense. I mean, if Sam can be coming around and spying on Sarah, why can’t he retrieve the money and grab his wife and get outta Dodge? Then they compound the idiocy by rushing about like a subdued Keystone Kops routine, hanging around when I just don’t see any good reason for it except to up the tension. I hate that.
I like the town and the few people in it whom we meet. The setting sounds absolutely glorious, especially if you’re into outdoor sports like hunting, hiking, and camping.
I liked the romance building between Caitlyn and Hal. Makes it truly poignant at the end. And I cried. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I cry whenever I get emotionally involved with the characters. That’s part of what makes a good story. Creating characters that pull the reader into the story and Lyons does it well. She’s particularly good at keeping things hidden until the penultimate betrayal.
For the most part, it’s well written, except for those few plot points I found stupid. Lyons cranks up the tension on this and keeps you wondering throughout.
The Story
A lab geek has raised questions about the first case Caitlyn took on after her on-the-job accident. Indiscrepancies that could well have resulted in a miscarriage of justice on the Hopewell double-murder case. When a body washes up in the river, the questions increase, and suddenly, there are way too many participants in a case that had seemed cut-and-dried.
To complicate life, Korsakov is getting out of jail, and he has plans for Hopewell.
The Characters
Sarah Durandt has been widowed for almost two years now. Her husband and three-year-old son, Sam and Josh, were murdered on Snakehead Mountain, and she is still grieving. Colonel Godwin is her father, who has retired and now runs the Rockslide Café in town. He’s remarried to Victoria; Sarah calls her the Colonel’s wife — Sam wrote a song about her which he titled “Morally Superior and Personality Challenged”. Mrs. Beaucouers makes a grandmotherly babysitter.
Alan Easton is a lawyer who works for a victims’ advocacy project. He listens. Dr. Hedeger keeps Sarah doped up with Xanax and Prozac.
Hal Waverly is the overworked chief of police in Hopewell; he lost his wife Lily about the time Sam and Josh were murdered. Gerald Merton is the current county coroner and the heir to the Merton Funeral Home. George Dolan is a truck driver who wishes his fifteen-year-old son JD would buckle down and forget about his dreams. Julia Petrino is the girl of JD’s dreams who is willing to help him with his summer project, filming a documentary up in the mountains.
Supervisory Special Agent Caitlyn Tierney ignores the traumatic brain injury she sustained in the line of duty to continue working at the FBI. She figures if she took disability, the male agents would crack jokes about what was next…medical leave for PMS? Royal Hassam is an assistant U.S. attorney in L.A. with info for an old friend. Clemens works in DNA. Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Jack Logan was her boss on the Hopewell case; he’s since retired. Deputy US Marshal Leo Richland has been missing for two years.
Damian Wright is a pedophile and serial killer, executed for his crimes. Stanley Diamontes was a surfer-boy accountant “involved in a money-laundering scheme”, who turned state’s witness against his boss. Grigor Korsakov is a psychopathic Russian mobster who gets off on the most horrendous torture for any reason whatsoever; he thinks he’s an artist. Dawson is the lawyer the Korsakov family sent to babysit him. Alexi and Max are cousins who appreciate his idea of entertainment.
The Cover and Title
The cover strikes me as patriotic with the grayish-blue of Sarah’s eyes forming the sky above a skyline of trees in silhouette which reflect in a sea of blood with the title in white.
The title says it all as Sam requires Blind Faith of his wife.
