Smoke Screen ~ Review

Smoke Screen
By Terri Blackstock

Fourteen years ago their lives were shattered. Brenna Strickland and Nate Beckett weren't supposed to fall in love. Brenna was a PK and Nate the son of the town drunk and when Brenna's father confronted Nate's that night everything changed. Pastor Strickland's murder resulted in Roy Beckett going to jail.

But now Roy Beckett has been pardoned and Nate finds himself heading home for the first time in years. He had no intention of returning home to the rumors and innuendo, but an injury has put his fire-fighting on hold until he recovers. And when he learns that Brenna is back in town he has to see her, to know how she is handling the news of his father's release.

Brenna Strickland's life moved past her first love and she is now Brenna Hertzog, divorced and caught in a custody battle for her young children. And she is not handling the separation from her children well - turning to alcohol to numb the pain. Nate sees how Brenna has changed and the pain she's living with is pulling her further down. Nate wants to help Brenna but he knows that unless she admits that she needs help nothing he does will be enough. And more than anything he sees that she needs to return to the faith she shared with him when they were teens.

Roy Beckett has never stopped claiming he never killed Pastor Strickland and he wants his sons Drew and Nate to look over the evidence to help him prove his innocence. What they never expected was that their father may have been telling the truth. But can they prove who may have been behind the murder or will their evidence go up in smoke?

Smoke Screen is a contemporary read that is a well-blended mix of mystery, suspense, and romance fiction. The who-dun-it doesn't reveal too much too soon so the reader's attention is well engaged as Brenna deals with what life has recently sent her way as she struggles to keep her children in her life while dealing with her own weaknesses and insecurities. Nate is dealing with his feelings concerning his father and the distrust that drove him from home. Overall a good read that will keep the pages turning.

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book through Amazon's Vine Program with no expectations but that I provide my honest opinion ~ all thoughts expressed are my own.


About the Book:

One father was murdered. 

Another was convicted of his death. 

All because their children fell in love.

Nate Beckett has spent his life-fighting wildfires instead of the lies and rumors that drove him from his Colorado hometown. His mother begs him to come back now that his father has been released from prison, but it isn’t until he’s sidelined by an injury that he’s forced to return and face his past. But that means facing Brenna too.

Fourteen years ago, Nate was in love with the preacher’s daughter. When Pastor Strickland discovered Brenna defied him to sneak out with Nate, the fight between Strickland and Nate’s drunken dad was loud—and very public. Strickland was found murdered later that night, and everyone accused Roy Beckett. When the church burned down not long after, people assumed Nate set the fire to get even for his father’s conviction. He let the rumors fly and left town without looking back.

Brenna is stunned to learn that the man convicted of murdering her father has been pardoned. The events of that night set her life on a bad course, and now she’s fighting a brutal custody battle with her ex and his new wife where he’s using lies and his family’s money to sway the judge. Brenna is barely hanging on, and she’s turned to alcohol to cope. Shame and fear consume her.

As Nate and Brenna deal with the present—including new information about that fateful night and a wildfire that’s threatening their town—the past keeps igniting. Nate is the steady force Brenna has so desperately needed. But she’ll have to learn to trust him again first.