The St. John Family’s story continues in Lynette Eason’s “Code of Valor,” which highlights Columbia Police Department Detective Brady St. John.
Off duty and on vacation, Brady, a member of the criminal investigative and dive teams, hears a scream coming from the lake. He finds Emily Chastain desperately trying to escape from someone trying to kill her. While rescuing her, they fight off drowning, shootings and a fire.
As they try to figure out why men want to harm Emily, a financial crimes investigator, as well as determine the location of her best friend Heather, who is also missing, they dive further into a case filled with murder, kidnappings, betrayal, and ultimately human trafficking.
And as their case gets more and more complex, Emily and Brady find their feelings for each other growing deeper and deeper. But before they can pursue a relationship, they must first figure out what these people want from Emily, and they must each confront past traumas.
Eason always does a great job of creating a plot fill with twists and turns. She always reveals just enough to keep the story moving, while withholding just enough to keep the reader in the dark. She’s also excellent at developing very real and relatable characters — Emily is a girl that so many women will relate to, one who struggles with weight and body issues, as well as a major mistake in her past. Brady has to overcome trust issues, both in himself and in others, as he must learn when people genuinely need help and when they genuinely are willing to get help.
“Code of Valor” is once again filled with a great supporting cast of characters, with the adorably lovable St. John clan. Many of Brady’s siblings have fairly prevalent roles, including Derek, Link, Ruthie and Izzy. And at the other end of the spectrum, Eason has created a plethora of delightfully evil characters. One word of caution, she has filled this book with a large amount of sub-characters, all important to the story, so pay close attention to who’s who.
But as always, Eason doesn’t only offer a great, intense, heart-pounding yet heart-swooning thriller, she also writes a story that offers so many amazing lessons. She includes a beautiful invitation for salvation, while reminding us that God has a plan for each of us and that we need to seek to have a heart like God’s. “Code of Valor” also reminds us that life can be fickle, while throwing us curve balls; the difficulty of overcoming shame and trauma; the effects of betrayal; and the importance of loving ourselves.
I can’t wait for the next Blue Justice book, which I believe picks up with FBI Agent Linc St. John’s antics.
Five stars out of five.
Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, provided this complimentary copy for my honest, unbiased review.
“Code of Valor” (Blue Justice series, #3) by Lynette Eason