Desert Guardian
Karen DuvallRomantic suspense
Available from The Wild Rose Press
ISBN: 978-1601540140
October 2006
| Sam Reed lived with the Star Mother cult as a child. His mother was a believer, but Sam never bought the doctrine of a magical spaceship taking believers to a utopia on the planet Atria, light years away. And he definitely didn’t buy into the mass suicide that would free believers of their earthly bodies in preparation for the trip. He left the cult ten years ago, and now he intervenes to remove others from cults of this kind. He is known as The Arrow. He visited Valya and Von, the group leaders, five years ago in an unsuccessful attempt to save his mother. He will never forgive Valya, nor himself, for what happened on that visit.
Kelly Bancroft hires Sam to rescue her brother. She’s feisty and determined, unwilling to let any man lead the way, but deeply disturbed by the suicide letter from her brother Jake. She feels responsible for his joining the group in the first place. Both Kelly and Sam have issues with trust and unhappy family backgrounds. Both are strong-willed and physically fit. And each makes some major missteps on the way to forming a lasting bond. Sam’s coyote pet and a mute named Consuela who was previously with Star Mother both play roles in this adventure packed story of drugs and mind control. So does a four-year-old child, the fifteenth of Valya’s children. These are human and interesting characters in an unusual and tense scenario. Duvall’s description of the nomadic cult is vivid and disturbing, as are the actions taken by the leaders to further the cause. The story is action-packed and engrossing.
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Reviewer: Lynn Bushey |
