Brandilyn Collins' Farewell to Kanner Lake....AMBER MORN!

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing

Amber Morn
(Zondervan Publishing Company - April 2008)
by
Brandilyn Collins

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Brandilyn Collins is a best-selling novelist known for her trademark Seatbelt Suspense™. These harrowing crime thrillers have earned her the tagline

“Don’t forget to b r e a t h e …®”
Brandilyn writes for Zondervan, the Christian division of HarperCollins Publishers, and is currently at work on her 19th book. Her first, A Question of Innocence, was a true crime published by Avon in 1995. Its promotion landed her on local and national TV and radio, including the Phil Donahue and Leeza talk shows.

She’s also known for her distinctive book on fiction-writing techniques, Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn From Actors (John Wiley & Sons), and often teaches at writers conferences.

Brandilyn blogs at Forensics and Faith. Visit her Website
to read the first chapters of all her books.


ABOUT THE BOOK

The whole thing couldn’t have taken more than sixty seconds.

Bailey hung on to the counter, dazed. If she let go, she’d collapse—and the twitching fingers of the gunman would pull the trigger. The rest of her group huddled in frozen shock.

Dear God, help us! Tell me this is a dream . . .

The shooter’s teeth clenched. “ Anybody who moves is dead.”

On a beautiful Saturday morning the nationally read “Scenes and Beans” bloggers gather at Java Joint for a special celebration. Chaos erupts when three gunmen burst in and take them all hostage. One person is shot and dumped outside.

Police Chief Vince Edwards must negotiate with the desperate trio. The gunmen insist on communicating through the “comments” section of the blog—so all the world can hear their story. What they demand, Vince can’t possibly provide. But if he doesn’t, over a dozen beloved Kanner Lake citizens will die...

Amber Morn is the climactic finale to Collins’ widely read Kanner Lake series. All first three titles in the series, Violet Dawn, Coral Moon, and Crimson Eve, were bestsellers. Library Journal placed Crimson Eve on its Best Books of 2007 list, and hailed it the “Best Christian suspense of 2007.”

A few early reviews of Amber Morn:

“… essential reading … a harrowing hostage drama.” – Library Journal

“… heart-pounding … breakneck pace … satisfying and meaningful ending.” – RT Bookreviews

“This cataclysmic ending left me breathless … Kanner Lake is the Best Suspense Series of 2007/2008.” – deenasbooks.blogspot.com

“Collins has saved the best for a last .. a powerful ensemble performance.” -- BookshelfReview.com

“… a staccato tempo … Sometimes you just have to close the book in order to come up for air.” – Dale Lewis

“…a masterpiece of page-turning suspense with a cast of dozens.” – Peg Phifer

MY REVIEW!

Brandilyn Collins bids Kanner lake farewell with a heart-pounding, breath-stealing style that only she could sustain for every one of the 315 pages of Amber Morn! This final installment of the Kanner Lake series chronicles a moment by moment hostage situation inside the beloved Java Joint café. I promise you, you will think that Brandilyn Collins has lived this drama on both sides when you finally reach the last page!

Brandilyn Collins captures the sights, sounds, smells and emotions of every hostage trapped by the three gunmen who have laid siege to the Java Joint. The nervous power of revenge and rage fairly pulse from the page as each of the gunmen battle their own paranoia in and effort to exact their own brand of judgment on behalf of an imprisoned family member. Meanwhile, the numbing terror and will to live grapple with faith and selfless sacrifice as the hostages try to survive the threats and demands of the hostage takers. Each hour is marked by the ticking second-hand of the wall-clock on the Java Joint’s back wall.

Brandilyn also does an excellent job of portraying the tense decision making process that takes place at the police station during hostage negotiations. Short of acting as a hostage negotiator herself, it is very apparent that Brandilyn didn’t miss a single nuance as she researched the steps necessary to protect and free hostages from a very volatile situation. It was difficult to determine at times which was more stressful – sitting in the Java Joint as a hostage or sitting in the police station trying to negotiate with a madman.

Fans of the Kanner Lake series will be glad to reach the final pages of this last book. As the series draws to a close, Brandilyn even remembers to cover the logical ending to the Scenes & Beans blog that has played an intricate part of this series from the beginning. I can’t imagine what we’ll enjoy next from Brandilyn Collins’ pen, but I know I’ll be counting the moments until we once again find ourselves needing the reminder; “Don’t forget to breathe!”

A NOTE FROM BRANDILYN ABOUT WHAT”S NEXT!!!

I received this note from Brandilyn in an email regarding her current work-in-progress!

“Dark Pursuit comes out in November. Darell Brooke, once known as the King of Suspense, can’t write anymore due to an accident that’s affected his concentration. His 22-year-old granddaughter finds a body in her apartment and realizes her boyfriend, the son of the town’s police chief, is the killer whose now killed three women. Kaitlin needs her grandfather’s help to get her out of danger. But can his addled mind come up with a plot to catch the killer in time?”