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In the 2012 re-release of her best-selling thriller, Blind Faith, author C. J. Lyons set up a new series, promising to follow FBI Special Agent Caitlyn Tierney on her typically unconventional cases. Now, in the follow-up, Black Sheep, Tierney sets out to solve the case that started it all.
Black Sheep follows Tierney back to North Carolina—to the small hometown that she hasn’t even visited in the 26 years since her father’s suicide. Caitlyn’s father was a no-nonsense cop—and his dedication to his job inspired Caitlyn to become an FBI agent. So when his best friend, Eli Hale, reaches out to Caitlyn, asking her to find his missing daughter while promising information about her father’s death, she packs her bags, leaving an unstable job and the man who loves her behind.
Caitlyn expects her stay to be brief and mostly uneventful, but when her meeting with Eli takes an unexpected turn, she finds herself faced with old wounds and a deadly new threat.
In Blind Faith, Caitlyn Tierney was little more than an intriguing background character—but, in Black Sheep, she’s transformed into the kind of heroine that readers will be eager to follow from one case to the next. The flawed crime-fighter who doesn’t play by the rules isn’t exactly a unique character, but Lyons makes Caitlyn stronger and more memorable than the average hero by writing her story with a feminine touch. That’s not to say that Caitlyn is a girly-girl who frets about chipping a nail or breaking a heel while chasing down the bad guys. On the contrary, she’s as tough as they come—but her story has the kind of personal touches that help readers connect to the character.
Still, Black Sheep is more than just a character-driven family drama. It’s mysterious and suspenseful, with a number of attention-grabbing storylines running through each other—from Caitlyn’s father’s death and the murder that started it all to the search for Eli’s missing daughter. Meanwhile, a band of bikers waits in the background, ready to do their leader’s bidding—and one in particular takes a special interest in Caitlyn and her case. And it’s all set against a marvelously rustic mountain backdrop, lit by just the occasional flash and sparkle from the nearby Indian casino.
Really, the only aspect of the story that doesn’t work involves a group of rescued zoo animals. The creatures have taken up residence with one of the characters, and they tend to pop up at convenient times to manipulate the story in the strangest and most contrived of ways.
Overall, though, Black Sheep is a captivating crime thriller with just the right amount of heart—and its strong yet vulnerable main character is sure to have readers coming back for more.
Listen to the review on Shelf Discovery:
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