Into the Fire

DiAnn Mills is a prolific bestselling author. You don't get to be either of those things without having a solid and abundant audience. The Chase is my first Mills' novel, and in reading this romantic suspense, not heavy on the romance, I can understand why she has steady readers. Reviewed here for the CFBA Tour, The Chase keeps what starts out as two simple plotlines evolving into complex issues with two primary conflicted characters leading the way.

FBI Special Agent Santiago Harris (Tigo) is the classic rogue player who will if necessary barge headlong into situations that could easily take him down. Successful author of women's fiction and former news anchor Kariss Walker has pursued the case of a young Hispanic girl coined "Cherished Doe" found starved to death near a Houston low-rent apartment district for several years. A now cold-case, she wants to write a novel about the girl, making it a suspense, and her uppity New York literary agent refuses to back her new effort. In order to re-investigate the case and do the proper research, Kariss engages her old friend in the FBI. He assigns her to the reluctant agent Tigo who's way deep in an investigation of gun running by a powerful Houston gang. Trying to figure out all the players through his informant turns out badly. When Kariss is inadvertently involved in a gang shooting at the hospital, Tigo now has to figure out how to protect her along with everything else.

A mutual admiration develops between the two with each one recognizing certain likable qualities in each other while respect forms. It isn't heavy-handed or silly attraction but it's there for both of them to fight off and deny. The wide net of all suspected involvements by wealthy investors into this gang activity presents the frustrating problem of connecting all the links in this complex chain. During this process, Kariss aids and hinders the investigation making some stupid and life-threatening choices because of her desire to rectify some serious wrongs.

If I had to fault the story, I might suggest Kariss's parents came off a little too spiritually dogmatic and stereotypical, and Kariss as a co-protagonist wasn't easy to warm up to which was probably intentional. Some of her decisions might have conjured up her journalistic history with TV reporting, but, really?

For DiAnn Mills' fans I'm sure The Chase will provide satisfying entertainment. It's cleanly written with a variety of well-illustrated characters, and as the investigations seem to merge, the intensity escalates. DiAnn knows her audience, and this one will provide them with what they want and expect.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Chase-Novel-Crime-Houston/dp/0310333172/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332732700&sr=1-1

Father, you've given DiAnn multiple stories to tell. I pray you would continue to bless her in every area of her career and life pursuits. May she always look to you for all of her needs. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.