Reviewer Comments: Clint Rollins works as an FBI agent in the Crimes Against Children Unit. He has seen the worst that people do to children, but finds comfort in those children that he can save. He relies on his faith in God and his prayers to help him cope with the crimes that don’t turn out well. Clint’s faith is so strong that his friends often turn to him to help them strengthen their own faith. Clint’s faith is challenged when he learns that he is facing a personal health crisis after being shot.
Sara Rollins is a well-known oncologist. She, like her husband, has a strong faith in God that allows her to pray with and support her patients as they go through the cancer diagnosis and treatment. Sara knows the horrible toll that radiation and chemotherapy take on a person’s body. She also knows what the prognosis is for various types of cancer and that reoccurrences can happen. Sara is not sure that her faith is strong enough to help her through her husband’s cancer diagnosis.
Sara and Clint always knew that his death was a possibility. After all, he works in a dangerous profession and has been shot before. They had prepared themselves somewhat for his death in the line of duty, but have no coping mechanisms for his slow decline and possible death from cancer. They both need to rely even more on their friends, their family and their faith to see them through this crisis. While Clint is dealing with this, another child falls victim to a serial kidnapper and he struggles with how little he can do to help rescue the child.
Amy Wallace obviously has a strong sense of faith. If she did not, she would not be able to write a story that discusses faith and a relationship with God so openly. Ms. Wallace blends her characters’ strong faith in God with a suspense story about the kidnapping of a child. She shows how people can live a life where they face adversity and challenges to faith and still find a way in which to maintain their faith. Ms. Wallace has FBI agents and oncologist doctors who see death as part of a daily routine using their faith to explain horrors and find strength within them.
Ms. Wallace has a great writing style. The story just flows from one page to the next almost effortlessly. She never allows her story to get bogged down or to stall as it so easily could have. The story of Clint’s cancer and the struggle of his family to cope with this as well as the story of the kidnapping and the hunt for the child get equal time and are blended seamlessly into a coherent tale. Ms. Wallace deals with the havoc that both cancer and a missing child can have on a family with equal sensitivity. I could not tell which was more poignant for her. This story was very well done!
