Into the Fire

LT Ryan and Brian Shea give us the 7th book in the Rachel Hatch Novel Series: After Shock. 

"Hatch" is in for a shock when she meets up with the former love of her life, operator "Cruise", which is kind of her final goal in what has become a harrowing journey on the run since faking her death in her old hometown. She and Cruise shared more than their special skills in the military. What she learns from him about his present employer feels at first like a horrible betrayal. When the details become clear, she trusts him enough to see what he's offering. 

Upon meeting his boss and teammates she's offered a job with the elite group and asked to tag along on an emergency rescue mission to a small town near Anchorage, Alaska. A viscious killer and leader of an Aryan Nation group has skipped parole and holed up in a deserted former summer camp with other members of their group after killing a law enforcement officer and holding another one hostage who's been shot more than once. The local HRT group is furious that they're on standby instead of the first call on this. 

Storms and bitter cold with glacier ice inhibiting their approach to the camp present enough problems, but when something they didn't expect happens, everything they planned for collapses along with the ground beneath them. 

There appears to be a wild card within this evil group, but no one knows for sure where he stands. 

With communication cut off in totally unpredictable circumstances with freezing weather, after securing medical aid from the HRT for Cruise and others, she sets off to complete the mission to the mocking insults from the HRT leader. 

There are all kinds of new characters, both good and depraved, introduced or fleshed out in After Shock. Hatch is her determined and unrelenting self with more emotional concerns on her heart and head than she would normally carry with her. Reflecting on her past with Cruise only serves to remind her that she did and probably still does love him, but she can't quite ignore her more present memories of Dalton Savage. When Cruise seems to want to carry on again, she's obviously torn. She makes one promise. Will she keep it?

In After Shock we finally see the intense emotional side of Rachel Hatch, the one she buries and keeps forcing down over and over again. It's a refreshing side to see along with her remembrances of her father's words in training her from her youth to what she's been able to become in the present. She's a heroic and wonderful character, and I'm anxiously awaiting Book 8 in the series.

(Some profanity.) 

Father, please continue to bless LT and Brian as they write the stories you have just for them to tell. May they know the One who's given them their talents and gifts. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.