Aftermath starts with a bang—literally.

A bomb goes off at a rock concert-slash-political rally, and there are multiple fatalities. We see the explosion, then we see Dustin Webb being pulled over and arrested for having four boxes of explosives in his trunk. He calls lawyer Jamie Powell, the girl next door in his teenage years, because he’s going to need help. Jamie finds circumstantial evidence that suggests Dustin is innocent, but that’s not enough to clear him.

They also have to solve the crime …

Aftermath was a fast-paced novel that I read in a day. It was hard to put down, which is always the sign of an entertaining novel. Well, it’s what I look for. I want novels that I have to drag myself away from. I certainly don’t want the opposite, novels that I can’t bring myself to pick up because the main character or the plot simply hasn’t engaged me.

In hindsight, there were a few bugs. Unfortunately, these might be spoilers. Reader, beware.

Taylor (who witnessed the bombing) kind of bugged me as a character, in that she didn’t seem relevant to the central plot question: was Dustin innocent, and would Jamie be able to provide it? As it turned out, Taylor wasn’t necessary, in that Dustin, Jamie, and the police could have found the truth without her.

Next, I am totally over novels where the motive is the character needing money for medical expenses because they (or their parent/spouse/child) is ill. I know it’s all too common in the USA. But it has become a cliché form of tension and conflict, to the point where we visit a sick person in hospital and I wonder if astronomical healthcare costs are going to be the evildoer’s motive.

Also, does the USA not have regular blood banks like the rest of the civilised world? I have honestly never heard of calling friends and family to donate blood for a specific person (besides which, doesn’t the US have rules about how often people are allowed to donate? New Zealand does—I’m only allowed to donate every three months). And what about blood groups—or was Crystal the universal Type O?

I also didn’t see the need for Jamie and Dustin’s entire life histories as soon as they were introduced. I’d say it was boring and unnecessary, except that I skimmed most of it and didn’t feel I missed anything. I guess it’s a case of how established bestselling authors can get away with things newer authors can’t. When I checked, it was only a few pages each. It just felt like longer because it was distracting from the main story.

Perhaps Aftermath shouldn’t work. The fact it does is testament to Terri Blackstock’s ability to pull the reader with excellent writing and compelling situations. It is also good to see a strong yet subtle Christian message. Both Jamie and Dustin are Christians, and one character seriously questions the concept of faith during a time of personal trial. I liked that (even if this was the only character development seen in the novel’s short timespan.

Overall, Aftermath is a solid Christian suspense novel, but isn’t Blackstock’s best.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free book for review.

Aftermath

A devastating explosion.

Three best friends are at the venue just to hear their favorite band . . . but only one of them makes it out alive.

A trunk full of planted evidence.

When police stop Dustin with a warrant to search his trunk, he knows it’s just a mistake. He’s former military and owns a security firm. But he’s horrified when they find explosives, and he can’t fathom how they got there.

An attorney who will risk it all for a friend.

Criminal attorney Jamie Powell was Dustin’s best friend growing up. They haven’t spoken since he left for basic training, but she’s the first one he thinks of when he’s arrested. Jamie knows she’s putting her career on the line by defending an accused terrorist, but she’d never abandon him. Someone is framing Dustin to take the fall for shocking acts of violence . . . but why?

Find Aftermath online at:

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About Terri Blackstock

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. Terri spent the first twelve years of her life traveling in an Air Force family. She lived in nine states and attended the first four years of school in The Netherlands. Because she was a perpetual “new kid,” her imagination became her closest friend. That, she believes, was the biggest factor in her becoming a novelist. She sold her first novel at the age of twenty-five, and has had a successful career ever since.

In 1994 Terri was writing for publishers such as HarperCollins, Harlequin, Dell and Silhouette, when a spiritual awakening drew her into the Christian market. As she was praying about her transition, she went on a cruise and noticed that almost everyone on the boat (including her) had a John Grisham novel. It occurred to her that some of Grisham’s readers were Christians, and that if she wrote a fast-paced thriller with an added faith element, she might just find her niche. As God would have it, Christian publishers were showing interest in the suspense genre, so she quickly sold a four-book series to Zondervan. Since that time, she’s written over thirty Christian titles, most of them suspense novels.

You can find Terri Blackstock online at:

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