Smoke Screen by Terri Blackstock

Smoke Screen by Terri Blackstock ISBN-13: 9780310332596 Paperback: 352 pages Publisher: Thomas Nelson Released: November 5th 2019

Source: Review copy from the publisher through Amazon Vine.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Nate Beckett has spent his life fighting wildfires instead of the lies and rumors that drove him from his Colorado hometown. His mother begs him to come back now that his father has been released from prison, but it isn’t until he’s sidelined by an injury that he’s forced to return and face his past. But that means facing Brenna too.

Fourteen years ago, Nate was in love with the preacher’s daughter. When Pastor Strickland discovered Brenna defied him to sneak out with Nate, the fight between Strickland and Nate’s drunken dad was loud—and very public. Strickland was found murdered later that night, and everyone accused Roy Beckett. When the church burned down not long after, people assumed Nate set the fire to get even for his father’s conviction. He let the rumors fly and left town without looking back.

Brenna is stunned to learn that the man convicted of murdering her father has been pardoned. The events of that night set her life on a bad course, and now she’s fighting a brutal custody battle with her ex and his new wife where he’s using lies and his family’s money to sway the judge. Brenna is barely hanging on, and she’s turned to alcohol to cope. Shame and fear consume her. Nate is the steady force Brenna has so desperately needed.

As Nate and Brenna deal with the present—including new information about that fateful night and a wildfire that’s threatening their town—the past keeps igniting.


My Review:
Smoke Screen is a Christian romantic suspense novel. The characters are well-developed and react realistically to events. The main characters are engaging, and I cared about what happened to them. The hero and heroine supported each other and brought out the best in each other.

The hero was hurt saving a family while his team was fighting a wildfire. He returned home to recuperate even though the town has labeled him the suspected-arsonist son of a murderer. His father has just been pardoned and is determined to prove who really did the murder so he can completely clear his name. Though the hero can't think of who else would have killed a pastor, he helped his father look into what happened all those years ago. The true killer felt threatened by this investigation and worked to at least ruin the hero's reputation to stop them from investigating.

The heroine's ex-husband immediately remarried after the divorce and now is suing for full custody of the children. To win the court case, his lawyer and father are determined to catch her every bad moment and verbally demolished her. She struggled with drinking to deal with the stress and depression of how the ex-husband's family treats her and the kids. The hero reached out to help her and give her hope.

Both main characters learned to trust God to bring about justice even when it looked like there was no hope. There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd highly recommend this enjoyable romantic suspense.


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: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.