Lynette Eason delivers a stellar novel yet again. “Always Watching,” the first in her Elite Guardians series, brings an all-women protection agency to Eason’s already great stockpile of amazing characters and great series.
Wade Savage is a clinical psychologist, radio personality and single dad who just happens to have a stalker. His father brings in the Elite Guardians Bodyguard Agency, led by Olivia Edwards, to protect Wade and his daughter, Amy. As the stalker’s action escalates, Olivia and her team are pulled into more and more dangerous situations. Will they identity the stalker before it’s too late?
And Olivia, always cool and collective in her professional role, just may have a few secrets and fears from her past to overcome.
“Always Watching” is a fast-paced romantic thriller, with more emphasis on the thrill than the romance. Just when you think you have the stalker identified, Eason throws in a curveball to get you second-guessing again and again until the very end. She does a great job instilling just enough clues into the plot without totally giving away the bad guy.
But “Always Watching” is not just a simple romantic thriller, it’s filled with many great little thematic gems, like the role of faith in our lives — who and what we put our faith in; what happens when you let fear rule your life; only God knows what the future holds, and accepting that; family means love, and not just blood; and letting our anxieties go and trusting in God to overcome them. Wade always reminds Amy, who at age 12 suffers from anxiety attacks, of a calming and reassuring verse: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
You will love these characters. I’m definitely looking forward to getting to know more of the Elite team in the next series installment, “Without Warning,” due in Summer 2016.
Five stars out of five.
Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, provided this complimentary copy for my honest, unbiased review.
“Always Watching” (Elite Guardians series, #1) by Lynette Easo