Saturday, February 20, 2016

"If I Run"

Terri Blackstock, author of If I Run, has sold over seven million books worldwide and is a New York Times bestselling author. She is the award-winning author of Intervention, Vicious Cycle, and Downfall, as well as such series as Cape Refuge, Newpointe 911, the SunCoast Chronicles, and the Restoration Series.

Blackstock applied the Page 69 Test to If I Run and reported the following:
From page 69:
small fridge in his room that his mother stocked with Gatorade and Coke. We spent most of the time on the floor, though there were high-end easy chairs.

I wonder if he still has those bean bags.

Had. I correct myself and force my brain back into gear. I'm not a grieving friend. I'm an investigator.

I follow the two detectives to Brent's door, slip on the blue shoe covers and gloves they offer me, and when they unlock it, I duck under the tape across the door keeping people out. The stairs where he was found are in the foyer, just five feet from the front door.

There is still plenty of dried blood on the floor where it bled out of him. I'm sweating now, and my heart hammers in a weak staccato beat. I force myself to think like a cop. I study the blood splatter on the wall. There are drops on the bottom quadrant of the wall close to the stairs, but I see a couple circled closer to the door, suggesting that the first time he was stabbed may have been as the person came in. Risking Keegan's wrath, I take quick pictures on my phone. The stab wound across his carotid artery was too high for Casey to have landed easily, since Brent was considerably taller than her.
Page 69 of If I Run has a lot of clues to the murder that took place before the book opened. Dylan Roberts, the point of view character in this scene, is a war-weary veteran with PTSD. He's been trying to get a job in law enforcement, but he's seen as damaged goods. When his best childhood friend is murdered, Dylan is hired as a private contractor to hunt for the suspect, a job that gives him a chance to prove himself. In this scene, the police detectives take him through the crime scene before they send him off to track the girl who allegedly killed his friend.

But what is the truth? That's the question haunting Dylan. Though the crime scene seems to tell the whole story, details of the murder aren't adding up. Casey Cox doesn't fit the profile of a killer. But are Dylan's skewed perceptions keeping him from being objective? If she isn't guilty, why did she run?

Unraveling her past and the evidence that condemns her will take more time than he has, but as Dylan's damaged soul intersects with hers, he is faced with two choices. The girl who occupies his every thought is a psychopathic killer ... or a selfless hero. And the truth could be the most deadly weapon yet.
Visit Terri Blackstock's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

--Marshal Zeringue