CFBA Blog Tour and Book Review: Vicious Cycle by Terri Blackstock/5 Stars

This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Allianceis introducingVicious CycleZondervan (February 22, 2011)byTerri Blackstock


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Terri Blackstock is a New York Times best-seller, with over six million copies sold worldwide. She has had over twenty-five years of success as a novelist. She sold her first novel at the age of twenty-five, and has had a successful career ever since.

Besides entertaining her readers, Terri tackles issues that she hopes will change lives. Her recent book, Predator, was inspired by her experiences on Facebook and Twitter, and her concern that people posted too much personal information about themselves. The book deals with an online predator who uses social networks as his playground. She hopes the book will change readers’ online habits.

Her New York Times best-seller, Intervention, was inspired by her own personal struggles with a daughter on drugs. In the book, a mother hires an interventionist for her drug-addicted daughter. But on the way to treatment, the interventionist is murdered, and the daughter disappears. Barbara, the mother, sets out to search for her daughter. Terri modeled Barbara after herself, and poured many of her own emotions and experiences into that character. As a result, many families experiencing drug addiction have written to thank her for telling their story and giving them hope. Vicious Cycle, Book Two of the Intervention Series, releases February 22, 2011. She’s currently working on Book Three.

Other recent books include a stand-alone novel called Double Minds, as well as Last Light, Night Light, True Light and Dawn’s Light (from her acclaimed Restoration Series). She is also known for her popular Newpointe 911 Series and Cape Refuge Series. Terri makes her home in Mississippi, where she and her husband Ken are enjoying their empty nest after raising three children.

Terri has appeared on national television programs such as “The 700 Club” and “Home Life,” and has been a guest on numerous radio programs across the country. The story of her personal journey appears in books such as Touched By the Savior by Mike Yorkey, True Stories of Answered Prayer by Mike Nappa, Faces of Faith by John Hanna, and I Saw Him In Your Eyes by Ace Collins.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

When fifteen-year-old Lance Covington finds an abandoned baby in the backseat of a car, he knows she's the newborn daughter of a meth addict he's been trying to help. But when police arrest him for kidnapping, Lance is thrust into a criminal world of baby trafficking and drug abuse.

His mother, Barbara, looks for help from Kent Harlan---the man whom she secretly, reluctantly loves and who once helped rescue her daughter from a mess of her own. Kent flies to her aid and begins the impossible work of getting Lance out of trouble, protecting a baby who has no home, and finding help for a teenage mother hiding behind her lies.

In this latest novel of suspense and family loyalty, bestselling author Terri Blackstock offers a harrowing look at drug addiction, human trafficking, and the devastating choices that can change lives forever.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Vicious Cycle, go HERE.

Watch the Book Video:




My thoughts:

Since I first started reading Christian fiction, Terri Blackstock has always been one of my favorite authors.  I love the intensity in her novels, which causes me to furiously turn the pages.  She has begun a new series about the struggles of drug addiction, and she doesn't tone down that intensity one bit.

Vicious Cycle is a novel about a young girl, Jordan, who is caught up in a web of drug addiction.  Not only is she an addict, but her mother and half-brother are as well.  In the very first chapter, she is pregnant with a child and forced to have the baby in her own bed because her mother will not take her to the hospital.  Jordan does not understand that at first, but as the pieces fall into place throughout the book, Jordan's realizes she has a mother who does not care about anyone but herself.

Lance (featured in book one, Intervention) becomes friends with Jordan through school.  Because his sister is a recovering drug addict, he recognizes pretty quickly that Jordan is on the road to a bad life, not only for herself, but for the baby that she's carrying.  He convinces her to start treatment at a local rehab center, New Day.  Lance visits every weekend to see his sister while she's recovering, and seeing Jordan is an added bonus.  When Jordan voluntarily leaves New Day so close to her delivery date, he knows Jordan will return to her drug-infested home.  He takes it upon himself to drive over to her house to check on her, not realizing that he's about to be in the biggest trouble of his life.

Leave it to Terri Blackstock to create a novel that sucked me in from page one!!  Not only did I get a glimpse of the world of meth, I also got a small glimpse into the world of baby trafficking, and neither one was a pretty picture.  This book was so realistic, possibly more so than the book before it, Intervention.  I can't wait to see what's in store for Barbara, Kent, Emily, and Lance with the remainder of the books in this series.  Highly Recommended!!

5 Stars

Southern?  Yes, set in Missouri
Sass?  No

**Many thanks to the publisher for providing a copy for review through CFBA.