Customer Reviews

Thicker Than Water (Mordecai Young Series, Book 1)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For thousands of years, wise men have warned about men like Mordeccai Young, men who set themselves up as pseudo Messiahs. With promises of peace, Young led a group of runaway girls into a life of slavery until the government stormed his hideaway. Unfortunately, the Feds could not rescue the girls who were Young's victims. In the siege, a killing fire killed them all, or so it was believed.

One girl escaped, taking with her the child her best friend bore Young. Sixteen years later, that girl, Jewel, now Julie, faces losing the daughter who became her own. A man threatens to expose her secrets, that she has Dawn illegally. Julie's nightmare only grows worse when she finds her blackmailer stabbed to death. The noose around her neck tightens when the murder weapon vanishes and a strange car begins following Dawn. Then, a faith healer comes to town, and Julie quickly realizes that Dawn's father lived through the fire. Only one other person knows the truth, the thorn in her side, her co anchor, Sean MacKenzie. Unknown to Julie, Sean has been haunted by the siege that changed her life for as long as she has. He was there, and could have stopped it, or at least saved a few of the girls. Helping Julie deal with her past will let him exorcise his own demons. Then, Julie and Dawn both vanish, and it is up to Sean to find them.

**** What does family really mean? Maggie Shayne answers that question in Thicker than Water. Love and devotion blend with suspense and secrets in this fast paced story. The reparte between Sean and Julie lightens an other wise deep read. Though Ms Shayne is noted for her paranormal fantasy, she is also capable of creating a world realistically believeable. ****

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.

Thicker than water is romantic suspense that will rock your world. The story is a tale about one woman's attempt to escape her past, and then her fight when the past comes back to visit in the form of a maddened cult leader. As she struggles with the troubles that start to rise, and the ramifications of the truth of her past, she finds herself striking a strange and delicate alliance with a rival journalist that explodes into a powerful attraction that threatens her as much (if not more) than the villain.

I don't want to ruin this by giving out too many details, because when you read it, you will be guessing every step of the way, surprised with every page turned, and sucked into the story before you even know what hit you! The villain is particularly believable because he has human qualities we can recognize and understand. His intelligence and his ability to surmount obstacles makes him a formidable opponent, and the heroine and hero are that much stronger characters as a result.

When the truth of the past can no longer be suppressed, a confrontation between the heroine, her friend, her daughter, the villain, the hero, and the ghosts of the past arises that will leave you breathless. The most terrifying aspect of this book is the fact that it could literally have been ripped from the headlines : Cult leader gone bad. Government attack gone bad. People going to ground, living another life, always wondering if they are one step ahead of the past they are trying to escape. The most satisfying aspect of this book: Love happens. You can't rationalize it, nor can you fight it. When it comes, it comes hard, strong and takes no prisoners. The relationship that develops between the hero and heroine is at once achingly delicate and wildly passionate, and completely believable.

This book is succeeded by a second in the series, that I highly recommend: Colder than Ice. (see my other review) Both are a worthy investment of your time, and will leave you thinking about many facets of the book long after you are done.

There seem to be quite a few books out there with cults in them recently. I, personally, find the whole subject very creepy, which is why it is perfect in a mystery/romance. When Julie escapes from a cult with the baby of a best friend she has to reinvent her life. She becomes a famous newscaster and 16 years later finds herself involved in a murder with ties to her past. She immediately is confronted by her nemisis (and new partner) who ends up helping her (because he is, of course, the love interest). All in all, a delightful read, if a little predicatable. In any case, I am looking forward to the sequel and recommend it.

Maggie Shayne's Thicker Than Water has a great plot, that not only fits to each of the character's roles but to their backgrounds. For example all six major characters have a link that connects them to one another, making the story more devious. Especially between the antagonist and the portagonist where the links are the author's way of forshadowing what will happen next. Shayne's interactions between the minor characters and the major characters were well played out.
The setting is an important factor. Placing the story in New York made it more realistic, since two of the characters are news reporters. I especially enjoyed the inside detail on journalism and what it takes to tell people news.
Although the story's major characters interacted well, the role of the police woman was a little overdone. I didn't think it was a good idea to use her as a minor character, and Shayne writes the character to have feelings for one of the other characers when in the end it didn't even fit in with the whole story plot.
In conclusion, I think Shayne wrote well and the characters' interactions with one another are well written. I would recommend this book to all those with taste for suspense.

Running from her past that she thought she had left behind in the rubble of Mordecai Young's religious compound for runaways, Julie Jones has a secret she won't let get out. At 16 years old Julie ran away from an abusive father that killed her mother to live on the streets. While living on the streets she meets a girl named Lizzie that is also a run away. They become best friends and learn to live together. One day a teen comes up and tells them about this so called haven for run away teens, well it turns out to be more like a nightmare rather than a haven. Mordecai Young turns out to be this religious freak and to top it of also a murderer.
Julie Figures out the truth about this teen haven and about the drugs that are being put in their food, so her and Lizzie come up with this plan to become his favorites so that they could get away. Well Lizzie gets pregnant by Mordecai and falls in love with him so Julie convinces her to runaway with her. On the day they were supposed to runaway the FBI raided the place. While attempting to get out Lizzie got shot and Told Julie to take Sunny (her baby) and raise her. So she got out, got a new identity and made a good life for her and Dawn (her babies new name). Many years later she becomes a successful anchor woman with a loving daughter. But then a man named Harry blackmails her because of her dirty secret, when he turns up dead the same night she decides to tell him off things become complicated. Then the murder weapon turns up in her house and she starts getting anonymous phone calls etc. Her rival anchor man becomes her only allie as they twirl into a world of love and deceit.
This romantic story with a suspenseful twist is the best book I have read all year. Although i have read many novels of this sort, Thicker Than Water is set apart from the rest because of the chilling ability the author has to make it seem so real. There were times in this book when I was laughing and times when I was on the edge of my seat wondering what twist was going to be next.
All in all this entire book was just an incredible read!! I couldn't have put it down once I started even if I had wanted to. It definitely was an attention grabber that I would recommend to anyone.
I think that the point the author was trying to get across was learning the ability to stick together in trying times even when you feel like falling apart. This is clear by how much importance the author tells about family matters.
In conclusion it is probably tell that I liked this book a lot and enjoyed reading it. If you think that you liked what you have heard so far about this book, read it to find out the twisted ending it has.

....more attention had been paid to the details. I can't believe the other two reviewers missed it! But then again both reviews appear to have been written by people more inclined to promote the book or themselves rather than inform other readers.

I've read every last one of Shayne's "Wings in the Night" series, loved them all. "The Gingerbread Man" was another at the top of my list and what had me convinced I should grab "Thicker than Water". I truly thought I had a winner in my hands until #1 Dawn's description for the Amber Alert of having BLACK hair. She was a blond. #2 After being with Ms. Marcum, when Sean called Jax about Dawn's kidnapping; Jax and Ms. Marcum meet again during the rescue. Only THIS time Jax asks, "And who are you?" Duh! #3 Lack of believability. No FBI agent is going to allow a small town cop and a journalist to participate in a raid for a wanted man the equivelent of Jim Jones or David Koresh.

What started out as a terrific read gets only 2 stars. Maggie you fell asleep at the wheel of your Porsche this time. Try some Red Bull for the next one, okay?

Sixteen years ago, sixteen-year-old Jewel's abusive father killed her mother. If this isn't a good enough reason for a girl to runaway from home and live on the streets, then there isn't one. While living rough, Jewel meets Lizzie, another runaway and they become close. The girls learn about a haven for runaways and decided to go there, however unknown to them their haven is more like a prison and it's messianic like cult leader, Mordecai Young, has a lot in common with David Koresh. The girls realize their mistake, but by the time they get around to planning an escape, Lizzie has delivered a baby girl, Sunny, fathered by Mordecai. The girls decided to get on out of there and to raise the baby themselves, but just as they're about to escape, the FBI raids the cult, Lizzie is killed, but not before making Jewel promise to raise Sunny, and the cult and its followers go up in a Waco like conflagration.

Flash forward sixteen years. Sunny, now named Dawn, has grown into a nice girl raised by Jewel, who now calls herself, Julie Jones. Julie is a respected on-air newscaster for a Syracuse, New York television station. The station has just hired sleazy, radio shock-jock Sean MacKenzie as her co-anchor and she's not happy about it as there is apparently nothing Sean won't do for a story, no depth he won't slink to.

Then somehow a slimeball named Harry Blackwood, brother of a state senator, finds out about her past and attempts to blackmail her. Julie goes to confront him only to find the senator's brother dead and now she's in trouble, because who do you think the number one suspect is? And who do you think Julie's number one ally is going to be? Yep, you guessed it, our estwhile, scumbag, shock-jock who gets more respectable as we turn the pages, until he winds up with almost hero like status in this book that had me fooled by several red herrings. Ms. Shayne is one heck of a writer as far as I'm concerned. She writes about believable characters that grow and change. She does her homework and gives us believable background and she gives us a believable story that seems like it's straight from today's headlines. This one gets a big two thumbs up from me, I can't wait for the movie.

News Anchor Julie Jones will do anything to keep her past a secret. If the truth ever got out, she could lose the most important person in her life- her daughter Dawn. For sixteen years, she has paid to keep her true identity unknown. That is until her blackmailer is killed on the very day she is making her last payment. Someone knows and is after her. Her only ally is her biggest nemisis, Sean MacKenzie. Another reporter who is all too clever at exposing the truth and may be her only hope to stopping a madman. Unfortunately, the two have been competing with one another for so long, that neither one of them knows what to do when they suddenly find themselves attracted to the other. Can Julie trust Sean enough to expose her deepest darkest secrets? Will it be enough to prevent the unthinkable from happening?

Thicker Than Water is a non-stop romantic suspense. The bickering and comical antics between Julie and Sean only feed into the romantic tension between them. I couldn't turn the pages quick enough. The author does a good job of leading into the sequel "Colder than Ice"

Is it worth buying?
Yes.

Since the other reviewers have done such a marvelous job of explaining the overall plotline of Thicker Than Water, I will simply say that I couldn't put this book down. It's fast paced, well-written, and downright chilling. I loved the characters, the concept, and basically everything about the story. I can't wait to read the sequel.

This was a very well written romantic suspense. The subject matter was a religious cult and the impact it had on the life of a woman (Julie) and her child. The cult was eradicated many years ago, but stories about it and people associated with it resurface in Julie's adult years and she is forced to revisit the pains of her past. She is a strong woman, who is drawn very well, and can be tender at times, aggressive, fun, and loving, especially towards her daughter. Her romantic pairing is with her television reporting rival, Seth, who eventually helps her sort through her past demons. The book was very lively, particularly because of the verbal sparring between the two main characters. Although the subject matter (the religious cult) was a bit weird at times to read about (particularly towards the end of the book) it was woven in really well. I enjoyed this book, would recommend it, and look forward to reading more by this author.