A year ago in Afghanistan, Green Beret Health Daniels’s career was destroyed. Along with with his faith. Now he and his military war dog, Trinity, have a chance to redeem their skills through the A Breed Apart organization. The job works. But his passion is to be back in the field. The medical discharge says it can’t happen due to the traumatic brain injury that forced Heath to the sidelines until…
Military intelligence officer Darci Kintz is captured and the geological survey team she’s covertly embedded with is killed while secretly tracking the Taliban in the beautiful but brutal Hindu Kush. It’s clear only one dog can handle the extreme conditions to save her. And only one man can handle Trinity.
Time is running out on the greatest – and most dangerous – mission of their lives.
About the author:
Ronie Kendig has a BS in Psychology and is a wife, mother of four, and avid writer. Her novels include espionage thriller Dead Reckoning, a military series The Discarded Heroes series (Nightshade, Digitalis, Wolfsbane, and Firethorn), and a new upcoming series, A Breed Apart, that launches Summer 2012.
In addition to speaking engagements, Ronie is a monthly columnist at the award-winning blog, Novel Rocket, and is active with the American Christian Fiction Writers. Ronie can be found online at www.roniekendig.com, on Facebook (facebook.com/rapidfirefiction) and on Twitter (@roniekendig).
Since launching onto the publishing scene in 2010, Ronie and her books have been gained critical acclaim and national attention, including: 2012 Christy Award Nominee – Wolfsbane (Contemporary Romance); 2012 FamilyFiction Readers Choice Awards (Discarded Heroes series named #5 Favorite Series, and Ronie named #3 Suspense author); Finalist in Christian Retailing’s 2011 Readers’ Choice Awards (Nightshade); RWA’s Faith, Hope, & Love’s 2011 Inspirational Readers’ Choice Awards – 3rd Place – Romantic Suspense (Nightshade); 2012 INSPY Award Shortlist in Mystery/Thriller (Digitalis); The Christian Manifesto’s 2011 Lime Award for Excellence in Christian Fiction (Wolfsbane).
My Thoughts:
When I heard that Ronie’s newest series was going to be about military working dogs, I couldn’t wait to read the series. My husband works with military working dogs (not a handler), and I’ve been interested in them for quite some time. In fact, one of my main research projects in college was about war dogs. As the title of the book says, they truly are a breed apart.
As with Ronie’s previous series, Discarded Heroes, the book contains a fast paced story filled with twists and turns. I always enjoy how things aren’t completely predictable in her books. You might think that you know what is going to happen, but there are various twists and turns that take readers down a different path. Sometimes that path ends up where expected while other times it ends up on a completely different trail. The characters are well developed as is the story line. I appreciate the fact that she decided to take some literary license in her story to protect and honor the military members.
Ronie has never been one to shy away from tough topics, and this book is no different. Heath deals with not only the physical aspects of traumatic brain injury, but also the emotional and spiritual aspects of the injury and being discharged after an injury. In addition, she deals with other topics of emotional and physical abuse of Jia (Darci) and other traumatic wartime events. Throughout all of this, the main characters struggle with their relationships with others and with God. These struggles are woven seamlessly into the story in a realistic manner.
I look forward to reading more books in these series.
