St. Abient Run

Rating:
Summary: An entertaining read, with underlying drama
Review: Jeana Kendrick is well acquainted with the countries she writes about in St. Abient Run. Her credentials are most impressive, as she is managing editor for the Door of Hope Magazine, as well as overseeing the Door of Hope International publishing concerns in the US and Canada. She has published articles in several newspapers and books, and is at work on her second novel of international intrigue.

Susan Pardue, a journalist who is struggling in her job, finds herself assigned to St. Abient Run school in France with her boss, Mark Ashley. Both she and Mark have a personal stake in the investigation, as both of them have lost siblings to the increasing drug traffic. Mark's cousin Benjamin has been acting erratically, has spent a considerable sum of his inheritance, and refuses to discuss it. Susan's life is suddenly in danger, after she innocently retrieves a package dropped by a man who bumped into her. She and Mark have to call in the heavy guns after they have a suspicious bag of white powder planted on them and they are picked up by the cops after a tipoff:

"Zach continued. Our agency only has the bare bones on the story. But last year a grand jury indicted Nebut Electronics, a U.S. Corporation, and Dower Consolidated of South Africa for conspiracy. At the time the two companies held eighty percent of the $600 billion global market for industrial diamonds. We're after two of their top men, Peter Frazier and Ewald Lauter.'"

Jeana Kendrick states her inspiration for St. Abient Run came about after twelve years of working behind the Iron Curtain with Door of Hope International. Susan's experiences mirror her own, which makes the plot that much more meaningful. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, and Kendrick does a nice job of translating her experiences into a first rate international spy story. Her characters are well drawn and fascinating, with just the right amount of allure and mystery. Susan has the added pleasure of having several suitors vying for her attention, which always adds spice to a plot. Kendrick teases the reader on that score, as we won't know until the next installment what Susan actually has on her mind. An entertaining read, with underlying drama.

Shelley Glodowski
Reviewer

Rating:
Summary: A Good,Fast Read
Review: St. Abient Run is a good, fast read that keeps you turning pages. The characters are convincing and the actions believable. The writer shows an intimate, accurate, and detailed familiarity with the many European settings for the story. I would recommend the book for readers of all ages and persuasions.

Rating:
Summary: Exciting, intriguing, uplifting
Review: St. Abient Run is a totally engrossing, freight train of a suspense, strife with political, moral and religious undertones. As believable characters, Susan and Mark are thrown into an international web of deceit where no one is beyond suspicion, not even each other. Kendrick exhibits a fine writing talent in her first novel, but this story has a quality many thrillers do not: a struggle for survival not only in the physical world, but also the spiritual one. Faith is tested time and again, but redemption is always within reach. St. Abient is peopled with a cast of multi-cultural characters, and an intriguing plot, all woven into a cohesive web that keeps the reader clinging to a thin thread of hope, and just when we think we have it all figured out, another strand is added to make us keep turning the pages. I wholeheartedly recommend this book as an exciting and uplifting read.