Customer Reviews

Shepherd's Fall (The Prodigal Recovery Series, Book 1)

5 star:		(5)
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3 star:		(2)
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W.L. Dyson has penned a story full of police action and suspense, interwoven with the theme of family. How do these police - bounty hunter type men - do family and how do the woman in their lives make them or break them?

Nick is the firstborn in their family, which means his father has left him in charge of their family business - bounty hunting. His father, Nickolas Shepherd, has left one-third of the business to each of his three children: Marti, Steve and Nick. Things haven't been the same since pop died. Their mom is sick and Nick, along with his siblings, are doing all they can to keep the business afloat.

Nick has been all consumed with the business to the extent of neglecting his own family. His wife has divorced him - she couldn't wait on Nick forever - she had a life to live. Nick's daughter is trying to get his attention by breaking the law - maybe she could see her dad that way. He's missed all her school functions - maybe he'll show up to bail her out. Nick is furious that Krystal has shoplifted. But, she reminds him that he hasn't been there for her. Krystal thinks to herself, "The only time they acted like parents was when she got into trouble." She had finally found what would get their attention and some love. Nick began thinking "no wonder God didn't answer his prayers anymore. He's done the same thing with God (as he had done with his family). He just lived his life his way, and expected God to be there to handle the things he didn't want to deal with. ...Never listened to God; never considered God's opinions. God, do this, God, do that." That's no way to live. No wonder his wife divorced him and his daughter has rebelled. Nick struggles with "how" to do family on all fronts -- from his ex-wife, his daughter, his brother Steve, and Marti, his sister. Everyone wanted more from him. He was failing everywhere and everyone; even failing to hold the business together.

It took the kidnapping of his daughter to bring life as he's known it, to a screeching halt. What's important in life anyway? Nick faces the biggest challenge of his life so far, and clearly sees what is very important in his life -"family". This is such a high price to pay for his blunder.

But, now he knows that in order in insure his daughters safety, he has to work as a team with his family. Can he do this? He'll die trying!! You will definitely want to read how this ends.

Finding Hope Through Fiction
[...]

Prodigal Recovery Agency Nick Shepherd wonders how he got into his current personal mess. Besides the fact that he owns one third of a failing bounty hunter business inherited form his late dad, his two siblings Steven and Marti denote dysfunctional, his mom is in an Alzheimer's nursing home, his former wife Jessica tortures him with her demands and their daughter Krystal is rebelling. Still his agents like Matt Connor and Rafe Constanza are the best especially with watching each other's back

Though he has doubts about taking on the search for the runaway hooker meth addict Zeena Bantham, Nick agrees as he needs the money and the firm needs the reputation as the business is falling apart. While on the case, Nick meets Zeena's sister, cancer victim Anne McNamara who insists on being part of the hunt. However, as he comes closer to finding the "tweeter", someone abducts Krystal and unaware of that moment threatens Marti as Nick's past has returned with a vengeance to disrupt his already screwed up present and probably destroy his at best shaky future.

This fast-paced crime thriller focuses on the life of a bounty hunter as his work intrudes on his family turning his once loving wife into a shrill and his once adulating offspring wondering if he will ever be there for her. Filled with action from the onset and a felon in plain sight, fans will relish this fine thriller as W.L Dyson shows she has the right stuff.

Harriet Klausner

I'm late to the party on this one, but once I got to it, I found it a truly entertaining read. Dyson paints a vivid picture of the seedy side of life experienced by bounty hunters. She also shows how difficult it is for the hero to have a normal family life under his professional circumstances. For Nick Shepherd, a normal family of origin involves a father and siblings all in the risky business together. Anything more pedestrian than that is hard to pull off. But Nick tries, and that's why this story--which could have been a flat crime drama--is well rounded and identifiable for the reader. I could easily imagine a TV series based on Dyson's concept--I think it would be a hit.

Dyson's Shefford-Johnson series was excellent. She became one of my favorite authors and I was really looking forward to this book. Perhaps my expectations were too high as I didn't find myself drawn into story like I did with the other series. Nick was not a likeable character in my opinion. I didn't really care about him at any point in the story and it seemed like he brought most of the problems on himself with poor choices. I had a hard time rooting for him. The plot was interesting however, and I did read through the book very quickly to find out what happened. I am looking forward to the next book because it looks like it will be about Nick's brother Steven, who I found to be much more likeable. I look forward to reading more from this author!

I was so excited to hear that Wanda Dyson had a new series coming out because I just loved her suspense series (Abduction, Obsession, Intimidation). So I was thrilled to get into Shepherd's Fall, her new series about a bounty hunter and the people he works with. With the advent of "Dog: Bounty Hunter" on tv I thought this would be quite interesting. Wanda doesn't disappoint. I loved meeting Nick, the oldest brother and in charge person at Prodigal Recovery Agency and Steven the younger brother and worker at Prodigal Recovery Agency and Marti, the long lost sister who wants nothing to do with family or the Prodigal Recovery Agency. We also get to know the other bounty hunters that work for them and then we start meeting those they are looking for. Of course, Annie shows up and she is looking for her sister Zeena (who is being pursued by PRA) because Annie is dying and needs a transplant that only Zeena can give her... but she hasn't seen Zeena in a long time. If Zeena goes to jail then Annie won't get the transplant so Annie has to find her first. Except bad guys are out to get her too, so it's a race against time for Annie. Nick is trying to protect his daughter from an escaped convict who is out for revenge. Can Nick balance everything in his life and keep Krystal safe?

This book kept me turning the pages so fast my head was spinning! Wanda has returned and is packing a punch with her new series - I can't wait for books #2 and #3!

I won't go into the plot as others have adequately performed this task already. What I will say is that I like to read fantasy and fiction to escape from my technical world and a busy life.

My wife picked this up after reading Dyson's previous three books, and couldn't put it down. When she was done she said I might like it, and thus I dove in.

I was quickly engulfed into the story and found it hard to put down, and in fact towards the end I blew off some other responsibilities in order to finish the book. Dyson's style is fast paced with adequate twists and turns throughout the book to keep the reader intrigued. Yet thinking back through the book she did a great job tying it all together to make it coherent and believable. The character development is well done and each of the main characters in the plot have enough complexity that they did not feel to me to be cliche. She even leaves one (Marti) with some mystery that makes me want to read more in the series to find out about her back story. It seems from Dyson's website that I'll have to wait for the third book to satisfy my curiosity.

All-in-all I found this book an excellent read, and I am anxiously awaiting the second in the series. If you like to read a book to escape real life like I do, I would recommend picking it up.

Bounty hunter Nick Shepherd has the weight of the world on his shoulder. He is relentless when it comes to chasing and capturing criminals, but when it comes to his private life everything is falling down around him. He owns a business that was handed down to him by his father which is almost bankrupt. Nick has an ex-wife who will not get off his back and an angry teenage daughter who repeatedly finds herself in trouble.

Annie McNamara is facing death with a terminal illness. Her only hope of survival is her twin sister Zeena, who she has not spoken to in years. Nick teams up with Annie, when he finds out that Zeena has skipped bail only to find that Zeena is mixed up with some dangerous men who are out to kill Nick.

When Nick's daughter goes missing he is on a mission to find the men who took her while also trying to repair family relations that he had neglected in the past. Through all the trials Shepherd not only realizes how important family is, but more importantly he had placed God on a shelf. Will Shepherd get another chance at making everything right before time runs out?

Shepherd's Fall is a fast paced, kept me up late into the night kind of book. If you like suspense you will like Shepherd's Fall.

This is truly the beginning of another great series by Dyson. The story is suspenseful, the characters are strong and believable, and the writing is smooth. I had a hard time putting this book down, beginning with the first page. I can hardly wait for the next one.

Nick Shepherd's life is in shattered pieces. His marriage has failed, his daughter is in full rebellion, and the family business - The Prodigal Recovery Agency - is drawing its last financial breath. If his missing sister would just show up and sign the papers from his parents' estate...

Nick doesn't understand why God has abandoned him. He followed all the rules. Frustrated and hopeless, Nick spends day after exhausting day chasing one criminal after another. His life as a bounty hunter consumes him. However, when one of his past captures escapes from jail and begins to threaten his daughter, Nick's life takes on a nightmarish quality greater than any he has ever known.

Annie McNamara is facing her own nightmare. Given only weeks to live, she must locate her sister who has become lost in the labyrinth of drug addiction, prostitution and desperation. When she encounters Nick during one of her late night search and rescue missions, her life takes an unexpected detour, and she is introduced into a situation in which she must face death on her own terms.

W.L. Dyson's book, Shepherd's Fall, is a terrific suspense thriller! As the first in the series of stories about the Prodigal Recovery Agency, the reader is thrown head first into a deadly conflict, and each page continues to raise the level of suspense until the reader is left slack-jawed at the twists and turns the story takes on the way to its conclusion. I love it when an author creates a story line that really isn't the story line...when I'm captured by the plot and holding my breath for the character's survival only to discover that there is an entirely separate plot that has been cleverly hidden from view! Now that, dear reader, is satisfying to the extreme!!

It is a great pleasure to recommend to you Shepherd's Fall by W.L. Dyson! The second book in the series is already well on its way to publication, and you will find some tempting scenes from Shepherd's Run tucked away at the back of the book! So, what are you waiting for!? Purchase your own copy here today!

Bounty hunting is a tough business, and this novel has the main character sacrificing all for it--even his marriage. An A-driven personality, Nick lives on very little sleep and Mountain Dew.He heads Prodigal Recovery, a bounty hunting organization struggling in these rough economic times. He has a hard time relating to his brother, and absent sister, along with his willful teenage daughter his ex-wife. His world is his business.

The plot involves drugs, murder, kidnapping. However, some things are just not believable. For instance, a character breaks into a house, and after eating some food, wondering throughout, even reading a Bible passage, discovers that it's her brother's home.

Things are tied up too quickly and neatly at the end. The author seems to be telling rather than showing the tale. This was not one of my favorites. Perhaps you'll enjoy it.