Predator: A Novel [Kindle Edition]

Terri Blackstock (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Bestselling author Terri Blackstock presents this Ebook of her newest standalone novel, Predator.The murder of Krista Carmichael's fourteen-year-old sister by an online predator has shaken her faith and made her question God's justice and protection. Desperate to find the killer, she creates an online persona to bait the predator. But when the stalker turns his sights on her, will Krista be able to control the outcome?Ryan Adkins started the social network GrapeVyne in his college dorm and has grown it into a billion-dollar corporation. But he never expected it to become a stalking ground for online Predators. One of them lives in his town and has killed two girls and attacked a third. When Ryan meets Krista, the murders become more than a news story to him, and everything is on the line.Joining forces, he and Krista set out to stop the killer. But when hunters pursue a hunter, the tables can easily turn. Only God can protect them now.

About the Author

Terri Blackstock (www.terriblackstock.com) has sold six million books worldwide and is a New York Times bestseller. She is the award-winning author of Intervention and Double Minds, as well as such series as Cape Refuge, Newpointe 911, the SunCoast Chronicles, and the Restoration Series.

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 421 KB
• Publisher: Zondervan (May 24, 2010)
• Sold by: HarperCollins Publishing
• Language: English
• ASIN: B003JH8382
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,263 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

Terri Blackstock is a New York Times best-seller, with over six million copies sold worldwide. She has had over twenty-five years of success as a novelist. Terri spent the first twelve years of her life traveling in an Air Force family. She lived in nine states and attended the first four years of school in The Netherlands. Because she was a perpetual "new kid," her imagination became her closest friend. That, she believes, was the biggest factor in her becoming a novelist. She sold her first novel at the age of twenty-five, and has had a successful career ever since.

In 1994 Terri was writing for publishers such as HarperCollins, Harlequin, Dell and Silhouette, when a spiritual awakening drew her into the Christian market. As she was praying about her transition, she went on a cruise and noticed that almost everyone on the boat (including her) had a John Grisham novel. It occurred to her that some of Grisham's readers were Christians, and that if she wrote a fast-paced thriller with an added faith element, she might just find her niche. As God would have it, Christian publishers were showing interest in the suspense genre, so she quickly sold a four-book series to Zondervan. Since that time, she's written over thirty Christian titles, most of them suspense novels.

Besides entertaining her readers, Terri tackles issues that she hopes will change lives. Her recent book, Predator, was inspired by her experiences on Facebook and Twitter, and her concern that people posted too much personal information about themselves. The book deals with an online predator who uses social networks as his playground. She hopes the book will change readers' online habits. Her New York Times best-seller, Intervention, was inspired by her own personal struggles with a daughter on drugs. In the book, a mother hires an interventionist for her drug-addicted daughter. But on the way to treatment, the interventionist is murdered, and the daughter disappears. Barbara, the mother, sets out to search for her daughter. Terri modeled Barbara after herself, and poured many of her own emotions and experiences into that character. As a result, many families experiencing drug addiction have written to thank her for telling their story and giving them hope.

Other recent books include her stand-alone novel Shadow in Serenity, and Vicious Cycle (Book 2 in her Intervention Series). She's also known for popular series such as the Restoration Series, the Cape Refuge Series, the Newpointe 911 Series, and the SunCoast Chronicles series.

Terri has appeared on national television programs such as "The 700 Club" and "Home Life," and has been a guest on numerous radio programs across the country. The story of her personal journey appears in books such as Touched By the Savior by Mike Yorkey, True Stories of Answered Prayer by Mike Nappa, Faces of Faith by John Hanna, and I Saw Him In Your Eyes by Ace Collins.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chiling Tale, May 24, 2010

By 

Nora A. Stlaurent "TBCN Founder" (Georgia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Predator (Paperback)

Predator is a story that could be ripped from today's headlines. I'm so glad that I received a review copy of this informative, chilling tale. Terri Blackstock talks about today's technology and how it's quickly changing our world. We need wisdom in navigating through the world-wide web and what we tell our peeps.

It's a shocker to realize teens are up-dating their status many times a day, giving people detailed information. For example, posting from their phones up-dating their status in every class period, texting what teachers say, what their friends are doing, where they were going after school, what stores they are in, where they are sitting at a ball game and what time they go to bed. All of these things are helpful information for predators. After reading this book I sat down with my kids and talked to them again about being safe on the web.

Terri has a scene in her story that gave me chills. A young woman has just gotten off a plane and is try's to get a cab. She is texting on her blackberry as she waits. A man in a town car tells her he is just as expensive as a cab and his car is nicer to ride in. So, the girl gets in the car, not paying attention to much because she's texting her current activities to her peeps. When the car takes a wrong turn, the girl realizes she's in trouble and tells the man to let her out, she knows karate and has let everyone know what he looks like via her blackberry.

The predator says to her, "Car's not registered in my name. You didn't tell them what I look like. I'm one of your followers, Megan; I get all of your Thought Bubbles. I saw what you posted; right here on my own phone. You're not into Karate. I'd know if you were. I know when you wake up in the morning, what you got for Christmas, ...I've been tracking you for the last six weeks."

My heart raced and I fully experienced this chilling story as Terri Blackstock made me completely conscious of how giving out too much information, all in the name of fun, is dangerous. The Web can be a wonderful place but just like anything else there are dangers you need to be aware of to be safe. I just couldn't stop reading this nail-biting suspenseful story that took me through a full range of emotions. This story is oh so real and so are Terri's characters. This is a stand alone story that will definitely pull at your heart strings and make you look at social networking in a whole new light.

Nora St. Laurent
ACFW Book Club Coordinator

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great New Book From Terri Blackstock., May 20, 2010

By 

Steven E. Rose - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Predator (Paperback)

I just received my copy early from Amazon and i started reading immediately. All I can say is that this book is a great suspense novel. Once I started reading I couldn't put it down. With all the books and movies that are out now that have language and sex, it is nice to read a Christian book with Christian principles and morals. If you have read other books by Terri Blackstock, or even if you haven't you should definitely read this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great thriller about the dangers of social networking, July 16, 2011

By 

Bill Garrison (Oklahoma City, OK USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Predator (Paperback)

Terri Blackstock's PREDATOR, a Christy and Carol Award nominee, is an exciting novel that captures the fear and thrill of hunting down a killer while also warning readers about the dangers of revealing too much of your personal life over the internet.

Ella Carmichael is missing, and when she is found murdered, it devastates her sister Christa and father, David. Christa discovers that Ella posted everything she did on the social networking site GrapeVyne (think Facebook) and that the killer tracked her down using these posts. Ryan Adkins is the CEO of GrapeVyne and, when he learns of the murder, wants to do something to warn the users of his site about the dangers of posting personal info.

When another girl is kidnapped because of her internet posts, Ryan and Christa work together to stop the killer. I thought Ryan and Christa's relationship developed nicely. For being a CEO of a big corporation, Ryan was portrayed sympathetically. The grief faced by David, Ella's father, seemed powerful and realistic.

This message of this book is hard to ignore. Blackstock obviously wants to communicate the dangers of revealing too much of yourself online. Thankfully, this message flows seamlessly with the novel, and Blackstock writes about the technical aspects of social networking with ease.

Blackstock is a bestselling author for a reason. PREDATOR is a good novel, a novel that fans of Christian thrillers will enjoy.