Police officer, Izzy St. John, is determined to uncover the truths behind her partner’s murder, even if that means putting herself directly in the line of fire. Her search for answers leads her to a large criminal organization and a list of possible dirty-cops, which potentially includes one of her own family members. Mystery, adventure, and a bit of heat between her and a handsome homicide detective launches Book 1 of the Blue Justice series, “Oath of Honor” by Lynette Eason.
For me, no trip to the library is complete without a stack of mystery / adventure novels in hand. This is my go-to genre for easy-reading and unwinding. Being an avid reader of this genre, I was especially looking forward to reading and reviewing this book, Oath of Honor.
Unfortunately, I just didn’t enjoy it as much as I wish I had. The book started out rather painfully — enough that by page three, I was wondering how on earth I was going to read enough of the book to write an honest review of it. There were a ton of characters introduced in those initial pages, all from the same family. While the conversation was supposed to be the “good-natured bantering” common amongst siblings, it felt uninteresting and forced. It failed to hook me within the first few pages, and unfortunately, that is usually when I decide whether a book is good enough to continue on with or not.
However, after pushing through the first two chapters, the book started to pick up and I forgot about most of my earlier critiques. It was an easy read with enough adventure to keep me interested. I liked the family values of the book: Izzy St. John’s belongs to a tight-knit family of law enforcement officers who honor Christian values and desire to make their community a better place. The love interest between two of the characters is a definite side-plot rather than the main story line, and was kept clean and simple — which I appreciated.
Given that this book was written by a Christian author, it was nice to not have to worry about graphic content or language. With that, however, came the potential for the book to feel cheesy or surface level — something that I definitely felt at times. The plot and writing just didn’t feel strong enough to hold up against other non-Christian authors in the same genre. And that was so disappointing for me…
While I wasn’t super thrilled with this book as an adult reader, this is a book that I think I would have really loved as a fourteen or fifteen-year-old. (It actually reminds me a lot of the O’Malley Family Series by Dee Henderson, which I thoroughly enjoyed as a teen.) I think this book would be a good starting point for those looking for a soft introduction into mystery / action style books.
Overall, I’m leaving this book with 3 stars out of 5. (For female readers in their mid-teens, I would definitely bump this up to 4 stars.)
“Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.”
