Synopsis
How can Haley emerge from the shadows of past sorrow into the light of forgiveness and grace?
For some people, Alaska is a breathtaking wilderness adventure, full of light and beauty. For Haley, it is a dangerous world of dark dreams and tortured memories. On the surface, she's here to document wildlife activist Kipp Nowak's work with bears. But her real reason is to unearth the truth about a past murder. The suspense mounts when another body turns up, and Haley begins to wonder if the tragedies she experienced in the past are connected to the dangers and mysterious incidents of the present.
From behind the viewfinder of her camera, Haley observes it all, including Tank Lassiter, the bear biologist who has been forced to lead Kipp and his team into the Alaskan backcountry. As she watches him with his work, she feels a growing attraction. It will take great courage and faith to confront the truth she once ran away from. Before it's over, Haley my be viewing herself from an entirely new angle.
Publishers Weekly
Veteran Christian romance novelist Coble sets her latest story in Alaska, where protagonist Haley Walsh goes to take still photographs for a celebrity nature documentarian's foray into bear country. There Haley faces painful childhood memories of her sister's death and her parents' rejection. As bear biologist Tank Lassiter leads photographer Nowak's team through the wild, he and Haley quickly forge a strong connection that each tries to fight for fear of getting hurt. Before the main characters know it, secrets about the deaths of Tank's wife and Haley's parents emerge. The novel's romantic and suspense plots are strictly by the numbers. The two romantic leads dutifully go through all the motions of denying, then fearing, then finally embracing their attraction, and while the identity of the primary villain is not telegraphed, many other plot points are. Several Christian fiction clich s are in full bloom as well: a city-dwelling protagonist learns important lessons in a small town, a non-Christian converts just in time to make an appropriate romantic partner for a mature Christian, and unsavory female characters are marked as such either by their unattractiveness or sexually provocative behavior. But Coble's prose is competent, and readers who crave a light, though formulaic, Christian novel will not be disappointed. (Mar. 7) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.