Digitalis by Ronie Kendig

Digitalis by Ronie Kendig ISBN-13: 9781602607835 Trade Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Barbour Books Released: January 5, 2011

Source: Electronic review copy from publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description from Publisher's Website:
Step into the boots of a former Marine in this heart-pounding adventure in life and love. Colton “Cowboy” Neeley is a Marine trying to find his footing as he battles flashbacks now that he’s back home. Piper Blum is a woman in hiding—from life and the assassins bent on destroying her family. When their hearts collide, more than their lives are at stake. Will Colton find a way to forgive Piper’s lies? Can Piper find a way to rescue her father, trapped in Israel? Is there any way their love, founded on her lies, can survive?


My Review:
Digitalis is a fast-paced romantic suspense novel. The suspense was created by the near-constant physical danger and some relationship angst. This book was the second in the series, but you don't have to read Nightshade to follow this story. Reading them out of order will spoil only the romantic outcome of the first novel.

I suspect a lot of people will really like this novel, but I didn't. In Nightshade, Colton seemed like a really cool character who had a lot of potential for a deep story. Compared to his character in Nightshade, Colton (and the other characters) came across to me as pretty shallow and one-dimensional in Digitalis. It turned out to be a fairly typical romantic suspense story, and the Nightshade team (which I loved so much in the first novel) played only a very minor role. Even when on mission, Colton pretty much had to work on his own.

I also had too many "Why didn't they just..." and "Er, what about..." questioning moments (especially near the end) for me to enjoy the story. (For example, Piper's refusal to tell Colton even "bad guys want something I have, and they'll use deadly force to get it" didn't make sense because that wouldn't endanger her father. And I suppose it might be possible for an enemy helicopter to fly in and attack at night in driving rain and hurricane-level winds, but why didn't they just wait another day? They'd waited for weeks already. And why were the bad guys attacking Piper to get a device that could no longer help them locate her father because he'd already been captured? And since there are other Nightshade-type teams, why wasn't one of them sent when the boss knew Colton would refuse this particular mission? And if Nightshade's identity must be kept super-secret, why set them up to work with locals (which no background checks have been done on)? Heck, why not just have locals do the job since they practically did, anyway? And why would a character known to be devoted to protecting his own country suddenly decide to leave and join an organization that fights American causes? And so on.)

I was also bothered by how, at the very end, the other characters pressured Colton into doing something (romantic-related) he wasn't ready for. He hadn't fully dealt with his relationship issues, but the message seemed to be "don't think about it...we all know you love her, and attraction is enough."

The main characters were Christians, and Colton struggled with why God didn't completely heal him from his flashbacks. One character gave Colton a mini-sermon near the end, which I didn't entirely follow, but Colton did get the right message from it.

There was no graphic or unmarried sex. There was some "he cussed" style bad language, and Colton frequently used "Dawg" as a cuss word. Overall, if you like typical Christian romantic suspense, then you'll probably enjoy this novel.


(In case you haven't read my Nightshade review, I do highly recommend that novel.)


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt:
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