Shepherd’s Fall by W.L. Dyson

This is a guest post by Tina L. Scott (formerly Miller). Tina is a freelance photographer from Merrill, Wisconsin with a passion for writing. She can be reached at PhotographyByTina.com


Book
Shepherd's Fall

Author
W. L. Dyson

The Review
Prodigal Fugitive Recovery is a family owned bounty hunting agency in Baltimore, Maryland, the only living legacy Roswell Shepherd was able to leave his children. Nick Shepherd is the oldest son, working full-time and then some to try to keep the business from sinking into a growing, gaping hole of debt. Bounty hunting—or fugitive recovery as it is more properly referred to—is in his blood. And it’s cost Nick darn near everything he has—his finances, his wife, his marriage, and now perhaps even his daughter, Krystal. Will this be the end of his life’s work?

Brother Steven Shepherd and sister Marti Shepherd are co-owners of the business and in many ways as different from Nick as night and day. While Nick is blue jeans and brawn with street smarts and an all-business attitude, Steven is crisply ironed tailored slacks and smiles with a knack for getting what he wants with a little less muscle. He handles collecting payment from clients for the agency while Nick hits the streets with his counterparts. Marti is the sister who has been MIA for years and the one person the bounty hunters can’t seem to hunt down, though they desperately need to find her if there is to be any chance of saving the business from financial
ruin.

Shepherd’s Fall is a fast-paced story of excitement, adventure, and danger. It will take you into the world of bounty hunters, the streets, and the lives of the criminal element in Maryland and keep you on the edge of your seat turning pages with suspense. But it will also introduce you to a host of characters you’ll come to know and love—like the other employees at Prodigal Fugitive Recovery: hard as nails former pro wrestler, Connor; hot and handsome Rafe; and Jenna, the widowed young woman and feminine touch at the agency who takes care of them all. You’ll also meet Jessica, Nick’s ex-wife, and Krystal, his very rebellious teenage daughter, who seems determined to do just about anything to get her parents’ attention—without any clue as to what she is getting herself into.

Then there is Annie, a woman whose story is playing out on the other side of Baltimore who is struggling just to survive and never dreams she’ll end up entangled in the drama that unfolds in the lives of the Shepherd family, but it soon becomes evident that she and her own personal story are very much an integral part of the plot of this story.

Finally, you’ll also meet the low-life element of the city—from drug dealers and prostitutes to murderers, weapons traffickers, hit men, bail jumpers, thieves, and thugs. And this is where it really gets interesting. What happens when one of those murderers vows revenge on Nick and his daughter, Krystal, and then escapes from prison? This is the fundamental tale full of twists, turns, and intricate connections you’ll read about in Shepherd’s Fall. Dyson weaves a novel of suspense with a complex cast of characters—and you won’t be able to put it down!

Surprisingly, faith is delicately interwoven into this tale of intrigue, suspense, murder, drug dealers, bail jumpers, bounty hunters, and family—and ultimately it is what brings the characters through the individual trials each will encounter throughout this story. This book is a great read with a complex plot and a great tie-up at the end. The only thing I couldn’t figure out by the time I finished was, “What’s the story with Marti?” However, at the end of the book I discovered an excerpt from a second novel to be called Shepherd’s Run that implies there is much more about the Shepherd family to learn in a continuing saga of the family bounty hunting business, and I am hopeful I will find the answers to cure my curiosity in the next volume.

At the end of the day, this story has a powerful lesson to teach—about faith, family, and what’s really important in life. Even more, it demonstrates the need for each of us to live our priorities every day, not just think about them while we go on about the hurry and scurry of crazy busy lives focused on other things.

Order Shepherd's Fall Today!

Disclosure: The reviewer received a complimentary copy of the book to review.

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