Presumed Dead

I chose to review this book because I had read the first one. Presumed Dead by Barbara Ann Derksen was written in the same style as the first one. It was good mystery that kept my attention because I wanted to see how it ended. The dialogue was a little cheesy at times and I have a hard time with the way Brian is portrayed. There is a couple of times I said to myself, "really". However, I did finish reading it. The author did a good job of weaving two story lines together along with reminding us of situations from the first book. You can still read this book and follow along even if you haven't read the first one.

Would I recommend this book? Yes and no. If you are looking for an indepth story line with deep characters and interesting byplay this is not the book for you. If you are looking for a quick weekend or vacation book that you can enjoy without too much thought then you will like Presumed Dead by Barbara Ann Derksen

Like Vanished, Presumed Dead starts out by jumping right into the mystery. Hooking me and pulling me in until the last word.

In this book Brian and Andrea have started their business as detectives to find lost/missing persons. Their adventure takes them into the world of bikers and drugs.

When the missing man shows up dead, it seems their job is complete, but the trail of a missing girl leads them right back into the thick of things.

Brian and Andrea's relationship has advanced past, that of friendship and I really appreciate how Brian treats Andrea and the purity they both desire in their relationship.

I would give this book 4 stars. I like the characters and the story line, and for the most part I could relate to the characters. In a few cases though things seemed to "easy", like I don't really think it would be that easy in real life. And there were a number of spelling/grammatical errors in the kindle version. I don't hold that against the author though, assuming that to be the fault of the editor.

The overabundance of grammar and punctuation errors made this a pretty tough read at times, and the ease at which characters made decisions to accept Christ felt a bit stiff. But the story flowed well and kept my attention. These amateur detectives are constantly finding themselves in danger, related to either the drug-trafficking biker gang they're spying on or the abused teenager they seek to rescue.

In the middle of all this constant commotion, the two manage to make decisions about the possibility of their relationship progressing past friendship. Through it all, they demonstrate Christian morals and fierce bonds of loyalty. I love Brian's opinions on dating and marriage, and how these are worked into the conversations he has with Andrea.

The author draws from her experience in CMA to form the Sons Riders, a group of motorcyclists who minister to other groups. I particularly like the way Mrs. Derksen fleshed out the ministry strategy of these men, explaining how they form relationships with those they want to reach out to. Motorcyclists who read this will enjoy the accuracy in descriptions of handling the bikes, the use of terms common to riders, and the humor of newbies trying to figure it all out.

**I received a free copy of this ebook to review. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC Regulations. I am part of The CWA Review Crew.

After reading the first book in the Wilton/Strait Mystery Series – Vanished, I was looking forward to the 2nd book in the series. It did not disappoint. In this book, we meet back up with Andrea and Brian who have now started their detective agency. DJ, who was introduced at the end of the last book, introduces them to the completely different world of biker gangs. While DJ is in a Christian bike club, they still have regular interactions with Demons Raiders and other biker gangs. The Christian bikers have the goal of reaching out to others where they are at and not being pushy about their faith. This leads them to some pretty interesting situations.

Having known some members of Christian biker gangs, I’ve heard how difficult and crazy this world can be for them. They need to be on their best behavior at all times and be a testimony without pushing their beliefs on other bikers. It’s a fine line to walk at all times. Barbara does a nice job bringing readers into this world without it being over-the-top. Readers get a good understanding of the culture without feeling like they need to clean up after reading the book.

Overall, the Christian message in the book flows nicely with the story, but there were a couple of spots were it felt forced and unnatural given the circumstances. That being said, the characters felt real. It was nice to see the characters of Andrea and Brian to be developed as the story moved along.

As was probably expected, you do see a relationship start to blossom between Andrea and Brian. Since they both want to maintain high standards in their relationship, this part of the story is pretty much clean.

Once again, Barbara has written great Christian suspense-filled book. If you’re interested in the Christian mystery, suspense genre, you will want to check out this series.