Four years ago, cancer took the life of John Covington and shattered the lives of his wife, daughter, and son. Barbara Covington has been left to pick up the pieces and help her son and daughter to move on with life; but that has proven to be difficult, since three years later, her daughter Emily began a downhill spiral with drug abuse. One thing led to another, and after a year of substance abuse, Emily was in the worst state she could possibly be in. Barbara only saw two options: either let her daughter end up dead or in jail, or exhaust her last chance to get Emily in rehab, where she could start over. Barbara arranges for an interventionist to come and convince Emily to go to rehab, and then fly her across the country to the rehab center; but when the interventionist is found dead on the flight back to the rehab center and Emily is nowhere to be found, a nightmare that Barbara could have never imagined has begun. It is soon apparent that she and her son may be the only ones who believe that Emily is not a killer; and Barbara is in a race to find her daughter, who may be experiencing a nightmare of her own.
“Intervention” is a page-turning thriller that will not disappoint! In the course of 24 hours, I searched for every single detail, praying that Emily Covington was innocent of the murder that she was accused of. Through the heartbreaking first half and the fast-paced search for a killer that took place in the second half of the novel, I was unable to pull myself out of the story. Next thing I knew, it was less than 24 hours later; and despite the fact that I have midterms starting tomorrow, I had read the entire novel. I now understand why Terri Blackstock calls her books “Up All Night” fiction; since I haven’t read a book that quickly since I started grad school.
The characters start to feel like your own family as you ride through their nightmare with them. Terri Blackstock is excellent at character development! Every moment with Barbara broke my heart—from reading through Emily’s journals to her insistence that her daughter was innocent. Lance may have been young and innocent (which was a great addition to the story), but his persistence and humor throughout the story gave me times when I actually found myself laughing just as tears had started to fall down my face. I enjoyed reading about Kent, especially as he wrestled with his own questions about God; however, I look forward to seeing him more in the next novel, since I’m sure he will be much more personally involved in the story than he was in “Intervention”.
As Emily is broken into more and smaller pieces, Terri Blackstock doesn’t fail to remind the reader of the brokenness that comes before one truly finds salvation; and I cried with Emily when she reached “bottom” as it is constantly referred to throughout the novel. Reading this story broke me again for that moment in my life when I finally realized that I was not my own. It hurts; it’s ugly; it’s dirty; and as you cry out to the only One who can save you, all of a sudden, you don’t feel alone anymore. The reader experiences this with Emily Covington through her journey in the novel “Intervention”. When the novel opens, the reader believes that she couldn’t be in any worse of a state of mind; but of course, God is not done with her yet; and a whole other journey still awaits her.
This novel is the first of a series of novels called the “Intervention” series. The second novel, “Vicious Cycle”, was published earlier this year; and I will be reading it as soon as I have it in my hands from the publisher! The third book, “Downfall” is scheduled to be released in February of 2012. From the first book, I already know this is an excellent series for any thriller reader, parent, or teenager! I anxiously await the next novel!
*This book was provided by Zondervan in exchange for my honest review*
No comments:
Post a Comment