Review: Presumed Dead by Derksen

Presumed Dead is the second book of the series titled Wilton/Strait Murder Mysteries. I did not read the first book and while the author does reference the first book I did not have a problem as she gives more than enough information so that you don’t feel clueless.

In this book Andrea Wilton and Brian Strait have opened a detective business called Shuster Detective Agency. Andrea and Brian take on a case on behalf of DJ Wiebe to find his missing friend. DJ is a biker who rides with The Sons Riders, a Christian biker ministry. His missing and, presumed dead, friend is an agent with the DEA working undercover as a member of The Demons Raiders.  The Demon Raiders are a group of dangerous bikers involved criminal activities, murder and mayhem.

I found the opening of the story a bit slow. It took me several days to read just a few chapters. Not being one to give up on a book so easily and kept plugging along. I finished the last 3/4 of the book in one sitting! The author keeps you interested as the story unfolds and you gain more insight into the characters and the suspense of the story.

One thing I often dislike about reading fictional books is that they can often be predictable. This book was just the opposite! The author did an amazing job of keeping you wondering what would happen next with many twist and turns! As soon as you thought maybe you had it figured out the story changed with another clue! And the ending was totally a surprise!

While the overall story was very interesting and held my attention at times I got bored with too many details. There were also times when I thought the author made the events and the sharing of the gospel seem a bit too easy. But then again if a person has been “seeded” and “watered” I guess it could seem easy to reap a harvest.

One major negative I have about the book is the punctuation and grammar errors. It made it hard to read at times, requiring reading the sentence a few times before you understood what was being said. Also on the PDF copy page 177 began a repeat of several paragraphs from page 174. At first I thought I have scrolled back a couple pages only to find that the page repeat. But this is an editorial issue and while it could be frustrating it didn’t keep me from enjoying the story.

About the author: Author Barbara Ann Derksen served as a journalist for American newspapers for 8 years with over 2000 articles published in those papers as well as in some international magazines. Her first book was published in 2003 . This year, she’s working on her 13th book.

I downloaded my PDF copy from Smashwords (you can also purchase the book at Amazon).

I received a free copy of this book/Ebook/Product to review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations. I am part of The CWA Review Crew.