Ten Plagues

Ten Plagues by Mary Nealy. Published by Barbour Publishing, Inc. Received by Netgalley.com.

As I've said before, I have been wanting to find Christian authors who write fiction that can tell the message of Jesus Christ through their story as well as serving up an excellent plot for readers to sink their teeth into. I received Ten Plagues by Mary Nealy through netgalley.com and wanted to see if Nealy could deliver what I was looking for. Sadly, this came up short for me.

The story starts out with Keren Collins, a cop investigating the deaths of  ladies who have just turned their lives around. Enter Paul Morris, an ex-cop who is now a pastor at a local mission, the mission where most of the ladies turning up missing, have gone for help. Morris unexpectedly receives a package each time before the dead are found. Obviously, someone wants Morris to feel pain, by taking the very ones who come to him for help and torturing them with different plagues as are found in the Bible.

Collins and Morris work together along with Collins' partner O'Shea, who is conveniently left out on many scenes in the book. Collins and Morris have a history with each other, dating back to when Morris was a detective himself. This pairs the couple up to a stormy relationship while trying to be professional about their job in bringing justice to the killer.

The author uses scripture throughout the story to back up her plagues plot and uses some interesting dialogue between Collins and Morris on how tough it is to be a cop and a Christian at the same time. I did not mind the plot with the serial killer and wished it would have gone deeper actually. I wish it would have included O'Shea more into the story, as he is Collins "real" partner.

One thing I can't stand in stories (and this is a personal reference in which some of you already know) is the romance factor. Some authors can pull this off without me rolling my eyes very much, but in this story, it practically wanted me to stop reading half way through. Why is it that every time a man and a woman who are put together in a situation, have to act so juvenile in admitting they like each other? The author tries to make the duo have a "disturbed, troubled" history so that they fight at almost every juncture, when in the character's "mind", they can't believe how much they want to kiss the other!

I would give this a three-star rating. Wish I could have given it a better one.