Vicious Cycle by Terri Blackstock

Suspense novels often involve painful subjects.  In the case of  Terri Blackstock's, Vicious Cycle (a follow up to Intervention), it's addiction and human trafficking.  Stuff I don't normally want to ponder.

In Vicious Cycle, we find Barbara Covington and her children Emily (who is about to graduate from a year long Christian rehab center) and Lance (precocious cool guy with a learner's permit) about to embark on yet another unintentional adventure.  One that most of us would do anything to avoid.  In trying to help a young addict named Jordan, Lance ends up with a new born baby in the back seat of his sister's car.  The car that he "borrowed" in order to try to get Jordan- the baby's mom- back to rehab.  A series of misunderstandings follow, resulting in Lance ending up in juvenile detention, accused of kid-napping, and Barbara, in the unenviable position of navigating the System.  She needs help, and so she calls on her (more than dear) friend, Kent Harlan, a detective whom we met in Book One...

Vicious Cycle is an eye-opener, and unless you have had the misfortune to  somehow have had a relationship with someone who has been there, maybe even yourself, or worked in some capacity that gave you access to the insanity of drugs and its offspring- every crime imaginable- you may wonder if these events were so far fetched as to render them over the top.  I wish that were the case.  But Terri Blackstock has been involved in jail ministry and, as I found out in the first book, which you don't have to read in order to understand this one, her daughter suffer(ed) from drug addiction. Terri writes her suspense thrillers from a personal, experiential place with compassion and hope.  Always pointing toward Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith.

Isn't it wonderful to know that He's not finished with us yet?

For more information about Terri and Vicious Cycle, please read on.

This week, the  Christian Fiction Blog Alliance  is introducing  Vicious Cycle  Zondervan (February 22, 2011)  by  Terri Blackstock  


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  
Terri Blackstock is a New York Times best-seller, with over six million copies sold worldwide. She has had over twenty-five years of success as a novelist. She sold her first novel at the age of twenty-five, and has had a successful career ever since.

Besides entertaining her readers, Terri tackles issues that she hopes will change lives. Her recent book, Predator, was inspired by her experiences on Facebook and Twitter, and her concern that people posted too much personal information about themselves. The book deals with an online predator who uses social networks as his playground. She hopes the book will change readers’ online habits. Her New York Times best-seller, Intervention, was inspired by her own personal struggles with a daughter on drugs. In the book, a mother hires an interventionist for her drug-addicted daughter. But on the way to treatment, the interventionist is murdered, and the daughter disappears. Barbara, the mother, sets out to search for her daughter. Terri modeled Barbara after herself, and poured many of her own emotions and experiences into that character. As a result, many families experiencing drug addiction have written to thank her for telling their story and giving them hope. Vicious Cycle, Book Two of the Intervention Series, releases February 22, 2011. She’s currently working on Book Three.

Other recent books include a stand-alone novel called Double Minds, as well as Last Light, Night Light, True Light and Dawn’s Light (from her acclaimed Restoration Series). She is also known for her popular Newpointe 911 Series and Cape Refuge Series. Terri makes her home in Mississippi, where she and her husband Ken are enjoying their empty nest after raising three children.
Terri has appeared on national television programs such as “The 700 Club” and “Home Life,” and has been a guest on numerous radio programs across the country. The story of her personal journey appears in books such as Touched By the Savior by Mike Yorkey, True Stories of Answered Prayer by Mike Nappa, Faces of Faith by John Hanna, and I Saw Him In Your Eyes by Ace Collins.



ABOUT THE BOOK

When fifteen-year-old Lance Covington finds an abandoned baby in the backseat of a car, he knows she's the newborn daughter of a meth addict he's been trying to help. But when police arrest him for kidnapping, Lance is thrust into a criminal world of baby trafficking and drug abuse.


His mother, Barbara, looks for help from Kent Harlan---the man whom she secretly, reluctantly loves and who once helped rescue her daughter from a mess of her own. Kent flies to her aid and begins the impossible work of getting Lance out of trouble, protecting a baby who has no home, and finding help for a teenage mother hiding behind her lies.

In this latest novel of suspense and family loyalty, bestselling author Terri Blackstock offers a harrowing look at drug addiction, human trafficking, and the devastating choices that can change lives forever.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Vicious Cycle, go HERE.

Watch the Book Video: