Sabotaged by Dani Pettrey Book Review

// Sabotaged //

Alaskan Courage Series // Book #5

By Dani Pettrey

{Review by Bethany}

Publisher: Bethany House Publishers

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher

Publication Date: February 3rd, 2015
Number of Pages: 336
  Rating: 3 out of 5 stars 

 

// Book Synopsis //

 

 Growing up, goody-two-shoes Kirra Jacobs and troublemaker Reef McKenna were always at odds. Now paired together on Yancey's search-and-rescue canine unit, they begin to put aside old arguments as they come to see each other in a different light. Then a call comes in from the Iditarod that will push them to their limits.

Kirra's uncle, a musher in the race, has disappeared. Kirra and Reef quickly track the man, but what they discover is harrowing. Frank's daughter has been kidnapped. In order to save her, the man must use his knowledge as a mechanical engineer to do the kidnapper's bidding or she will die. Kirra and Reef, along with the entire McKenna family, are thrown into a race to stop a shadowy villain who is not only threatening a girl's life, but appears willing to unleash one of the largest disasters Alaska has ever seen.

 

// Bethany's Book Review //

 

Prior to reading Sabotaged, I'd read the first book in the Alaskan Courage series, Submerged, but not the three books between Submerged and Sabotaged, the fifth book in this stand-alone series. Since  the main characters in this series are all related, this series can be read either in order or alone, which is something I liked. If you'd read the previous books then some of the characters you'll already be familiar with, but if not you can still enjoy and understand the story, enjoying it alone.

 

Sabotaged was a very action packed book, which is what fans of Dani Pettrey have come to expect and enjoy in her novels. The whole story takes place in a short period of time, making the story read very true to actual time. It made the book overall very easy to read, and one that would be considered a quicker read because of how the story was constantly moving. I was able to read the whole book in two sittings just because of how the story flowed and was easy to read. Some books are just quicker reads by nature, and this one is definitely one that I'd put in that category, making it a good weekend read.

 

This novel was one I knew would be a fun, quick read due to the suspenseful theme. The story was very fast and was constantly moving, however I felt there was an element of the story that I just wasn't connecting with. While the suspense was there and kept me reading, I felt like for some reason the story didn't grip me in the way I would have liked considering the mystery aspect of the novel. While I did enjoy the suspense, I didn't feel like it really had that suspenseful factor that keeps me on the edge of my seat. There were several scenes that were so short, or had no transition and changed so quick that I didn't really understand what was going on, and at times these scenes were confusing. I knew that these scenes were important to the plot and contained pieces of the mystery puzzle, but they happened so fast with so little details that I felt rather lost and confused. I especially felt this way about the ending, which in my opinion happened too fast.

While there were scenes where I felt like the story didn't really grip me, I did enjoy the character development in this story. It was interested seeing the characters and their pasts, and how that effected the story and how they acted in certain situations. The thread of redemption and fresh starts was a nice addition to the plot, and it was nice to have this dimension added to the story.

Overall, I enjoyed this book as a quick one time read. It was an exciting adventure, but I just didn't feel like the suspense level was there for me. However I'm still grateful for the opportunity to read this book and would recommend it!

D I S C L A I M E R ::: I received a complementary copy of this book from the publisher for the sole purpose of this review. I was not paid to promote this book, and all thoughts expressed are my own, completely honest and unbiased.