Ordeal

Very few books start off as fast as Deanie Francis Mills' "Ordeal." While most stories will try to develop characters before anything thrilling happens, Mills starts the excitement from the very beginning, developing both the characters and the plot simultaneously without losing the reader's interest in either.The characters are well drawn out and fully developed. The plot is realistic and intense. The writing is practically flawless, save for a few repetitive phrases.This book is hard to put down and highly recommended.

In 1980, twenty year old Wren Cameron thinks she owns the world as she has fallen love with militia leader Jeremiah Hunter. However, a Federal raid on Hunter' Louisiana campsite ends their relationship in bloodshed. Wren flees into the night, a fugitive on the lam. Jeremiah goes to prison. ......Sixteen years later, Wren is the happily married mother of two children. She teaches chemistry in the local Texas high school and her violent past is just a nightmare that she prefers to forget. This is one bad dream she will not be allowed to forget. They do come back as Jeremiah is released from jail has returned into her life. He needs her help to enact his revenge on the Federal government. He kidnaps her and her fifteen year old son, threatening to kill the lad if Wren fails to build him an explosive device to blow up the Federal Building in a large Texas city. Wren must find a way to stop her former lover without it costing her the life of her son. Even if she saves the lives of the Federal workers and her son, she still has to keep her son from falling any deeper under the influence of the charismatic Hunter. ......The story line is rocket ship fast and the characters are all superbly written. Readers will not suffer from any ORDEAL if they read Deanie Francis Mills' tale of militia terrorism which could just as easily have been Oklahoma City just prior to the attack. More novels like this one will leave Ms. Mills as one of the recognized leaders in scribing thrillers. ......Harriet Klausner