Desperate Measures by Sandra Orchard

Kate won't be safe until all of Port Aster's secrets are revealed

Researcher Kate Adams has finally pinpointed the supposed "miracle plant" that tore apart her family years ago. She's certain that discovering its secrets is her only hope of solving the mystery surrounding her father's disappearance. She's willing to risk anything to find the truth, including her relationship with Detective Tom Parker. But with so many people in pursuit of the plant, going it alone might be a fatal mistake. Award-winning author Sandra Orchard pulls out all the stops in this conclusion to the Port Aster Secrets series.

My thoughts: Having read the first two books in the Aster Secrets series, it was like stepping on familiar ground when I began reading page one of Desperate Measures. The characters are involved and intertwined with each other in sometimes confusing and bewildering ways. Their emotional quotient reacting to ensuing developments gives this reader the impression that they are hiding secrets and basically deceptive deep within their being. This conflicts with the tenets of Christianity which is their purported faith.

A predictable conclusion is certainly in the works, yet the culprit was not easily determined by this reader. The predictable conclusion on the romantic interest involving the main characters seemed thwarted at times by the need for deception. Can romance truly survive a beginning in deception?

The "main character," based on impact upon the story, is truly not a person but indeed is a plant of uncertain use. As the author has Kate and Tom running circles around each other and around this secretive plant, the story runs amoke.

Sandra Orchard is award-winning author of several books including Deadly Devotion, winner of the 2014 The Word Award for suspense, and Blind Trust. Her Love Inspired Suspense titles have garnered two Canadian Christian Writing Awards and a Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award. Sandra has also received a Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense. She lives in Ontario, Canada. Learn more at www.sandraorchard.com.

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy from Revell a division of Baker Publishing to facilitate this review. Opinions expressed are my own. I was not compensated for this review.