Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Blog Tour/Review: Stranded by Nathan Huffaker


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Stranded, by Nathan Huffaker
2015, 272p, LDS Suspense/Thriller
My Rating=4.5 Stars
Source: Received a copy from the publisher for an honest review



Kazakhstan is on the brink of civil war, and Elders Schofield and Johnson need to get out ASAP. But when their train explodes, all the evidence points to the missionaries! With terrorists on their trail and the whole country against them, the elders’ only refuge is the US Embassy in Astana—800 miles away. Fans of The Saratov Approach will love this jaw-dropping thriller.

This book is intense! The call comes to evacuate all missionaries from Kazakhstan immediately. As two missionaries board their train, one of them left something important behind. They rush off the train but before they can board again, it explodes and it appears that they are the terrorists. They start running for their lives. They find people along the way willing to help them and others who want to make sure they take the blame.

We follow a few different people in this book, including the missionaries (Elders Schofield and Johnson), their mission president who is determined not to leave them behind (President Howard Russell) and the chief detective of the anti-terror task force (Michael Ivanov). The missionaries met Michael the night before at a member's house and he was more interested in learning about them personally than in the message they had to share. As events unfold, Michael needs to determine if the missionaries are involved in the terrorist attacks or if they are innocent.

None of them are completely safe and it was hard at times to know who to trust. There is talk of religion as the missionaries continue to teach and discuss their faith while they're on the run. There are lots of moving parts and I enjoyed how everything came together in the end. I personally would have liked a little more at the end or maybe an epilogue, but overall the ending is satisfying.  This is a fast-paced novel that is hard to put down and will keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time. I'm looking forward to reading more from this author in the future!


About the author:
Born and raised in Springville, Utah, the first time Nathan Huffaker boarded a plane was when he left home to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Kiev, Ukraine. The two years he spent in Kiev later helped him to base parts of “Stranded” on his missionary experiences. Huffaker recently graduated from Utah Valley University with a degree in English and now resides in Spanish Fork, Utah, with his wife and five kids.

1 comments:

Unknown said...

It's about missionaries...Yay, although thinking they are terrorist that sounds interesting! Great review!

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