Trail of Danger

True Blue K-9 Unit #6

by Valerie Hansen

What she forgot could kill her

Injured by an attack she can’t remember, Abigail Jones knows someone’s after her, but she doesn’t know why or who. Now the man who rescued her, Officer Reed Branson, and his K-9 partner will shield her while she regains her memory. But unraveling the mystery surrounding Abigail leads to more questions than answers…and to a ruthless enemy who’s determined to take their lives.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Romance, Love Inspired Suspense, Romantic Suspense, Suspense, Mystery, Harlequin

226 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 19, 2019

About the author

Valerie Hansen is the pen name of Valerie Whisenand.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Although I have been a published author since the mid 1980s, I have been writing women's Christian fiction almost exclusively since 1999.

There is a longer, more detailed bio on my website so there's no need for me to repeat all that here. Right now, I write for all three Love Inspired lines, Romance, Suspense and Historical. I'm delighted to have been included that broadly and besides, it keeps me so busy that I stay out of trouble. Well, mostly.

You'll find me on the LI Historical blog as well as other LI features. If I try to do much more I won't have time to write my books!

Reviews

[Paula]

Abigail Jones works to help kids who are living on the streets because she, too, left home when she was young to live on the streets to escape a bad home situation. When Abigail agrees to a meeting late at night at Coney Island with one of the kids, Abigail is attacked and ends up suffering from temporary amnesia, blocking out the traumatic events of the night. K-9 Officer Reed Branson, along with his canine partner Jessie, is the one who finds her after her attack at the carousel, and he decides he’s going to stick by her side till her memory comes back and she can identify her assailants.

This was another enjoyable entry into the True Blue K-9 Unit series. I thoroughly enjoyed the settings in this one, not only New York City, but in particular Coney Island, Brighton Beach and the boardwalk where much of the story took place. I loved the two dogs in the story—K-9 Jessie, who was so wonderful at her job, and also the sweet puppy Midnight who Reed was hoping to get Abigail to foster. Abigail tended to drive me nuts at times by not listening to law enforcement and continually running into danger and getting herself into more trouble. Overall though, it was a very good read with lovable dogs and an interesting setting.

[Patrizia]

Avrei anche dato mezza stella in più, ma il finale mi è sembrato un po' troppo affrettato. Comunque, questa serie mi sta piacendo molto.

[Library Queen]

OK, so everyone I know knows I love dogs. It's no secret. When I see one when I'm in the car I say 'doggie!' like a 5 year old. So reading this book was a no-brainer.

I really enjoyed the dog parts, with Jessie the bloodhound, and Midnight the puppy, and I liked the romance, even though it was insta-love. But then the heroine went all stupid and insisted in putting herself in danger multiple times for no reason. So only 3 stars.

[Kav]

There aren't enough words to express how much I love this series! The K-9 officers are a real draw and I love how each book has it's own standalone suspense plot -- they can all be read independently though there is a subtle over-arcing series suspense as well. And I love how the books are able to explore different factors of K-9 policing.

I have to admit to being drawn to the big city setting as well. It brings unique issues and challenges such as youth homelessness which is featured in Trail of Danger. A refreshing change from the small-town suspense we usually see in the Love Inspired Suspense line -- not that I don't love my small-town suspense novels. They will always be the staple of my avid reader appetite -- but sometimes it's just fun to switch things up a bit. :-)

Doesn't Jessie cut a fine figure on that cover? A dedicated scent hound who could clear a city block with her madly wagging tail! Her loving disposition makes a little drool manageable. And her human partner -- minus the drool -- is just as captivating!

Reed's breaking the rules by becoming emotionally involved in a case but there's something about Abigail that pulls him in. Jessie too. You gotta know it's a good thing when your dog gives her seal of approval. I really enjoyed the way their relationship developed. There's enough 'down' time for Reed and Abigail to get to know each other and enough heart-stopping intrigue to keep everything on edge. Sweet combination.

Gah! Just two more books to go before we finally collar a murderer and find a missing K-9 officer! And I have Courage Under Fire by Sharon Dunn sitting on my TBR pile right now so guess what I'm diving into next?!

[drowningmermaid]

Chap 1- Dang this knows its audience. Random love letters to gun ownership and carrying.
Chap 2- Lols. This is not how amnesia works. And repressing trauma will also negate the desire to procreate— but to be fair that’s addressed here and she’s not acting weirdly not-trauma brained.

I don’t actually know why I read these. It might be because I have a weird nostalgia for my Christian youth and this is a sort of watered down, hyperbolic version of that culture. Or maybe I have to see for myself how low the publishing bar really is. As encouragement. Technically, though, these are an extremely specific kind of bad— one that I don’t think I could ever truly master.

For example, there’s a moment when heroine hears a voice that she instantly recognizes as her attacker’s. It turns out to be the pizza delivery guy. Upon recognition, she screams loud enough to wake neighbors. Because screaming instantly at full volume at a guy making change makes all the sense. Hero is then suspicious of pizza guy and has him tailed. BUT THEN they all sit down and Eat The Pizza.

Could you have thought of that? I don’t think I could. It’s like one of those stories where you pass your paragraph to the kid sitting behind you and they add something, which could be what happened here. Editing is as editing does.

Overall, though, this is actually the best one of these I’ve read. The writing was thriller-esque with great settings. Carnies! Dangerous fairgrounds! Home intruders! Good writing style!

But the chemistry between these two seems really perfunctory and fraught with genuine dislike of each other. Romance novels usually counterbalance this with sexual tension but in clean, Christian-lite romance the contemptuous sniping gets caught with its pants down, so to speak.

[Sandy]

Like mystery and suspense but these books end the same way. All three I have read ends with them talking marriage when they never really discussed their relationship and many times denied they even liked each other. This is truly a dream bookseries as very few get engaged before their first date.

[Jennifer Horner]

Disappointed

Good plot if it hadn't been obscured by such a heavy focus on romance, and the resulting unprofessional behavior. Not a fan of the main female character ESPECIALLY with her wishy-washy behavior concerning Midnight.

[Harlequin Books]

Categories
Inspirational Suspense, Wholesome Romance, Animal Fiction, Romantic Suspense

Miniseries
True Blue K-9 Unit

[Harlequin Books]

Categories
Inspirational Suspense, Wholesome Romance, Animal Fiction, Romantic Suspense

Miniseries
True Blue K-9 Unit

[Debbie]

"Trail of Danger" is a Christian romantic suspense. Abigail was a street kid as a teen and good mentors got her headed into a better life. She now works with street kids and sees one being kidnapped. Reed and his K-9 partner arrive in time to save her, but she can't clearly remember what happened. He protects her as she remembers what happened and works with the street kids who might know more about what's going on. She's also suffering from anxiety from the trauma she experienced, so Reed paired her with a young dog for emotional support.

The main characters were engaging and generally reacted realistically to events. Abigail twice put herself in danger, but the author adequately explained why she acted that way. The suspense came from the danger to Abigail and the street kids. Abigail and Reed got along well.

Abigail realized that she should pray to God all the time, not just as a last resort. There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable, exciting novel.

[Lisa]

I gave this a 3 star which is my standard rating for a readable story. But I kept struggling with the believability of the characters and what was wrong. Here is my take. This is a good clean story, but not a true Christian one. No character in this book ever reads the Bible, no character ever goes to church or Bible study and yes, they “ pray” and mention Jesus, but not in an living way. Yes, Christians struggle with psychological issues, but never over come without deep study and reliance on the word of God, which is living and sharper than any two edged sword.Also we build on each other. As iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.

[Alyson Buxey]

Not rating as I’m the wrong audience but I want to know the outcome. Abigail is quite likeable, I appreciate her vulnerabilities, strength and understand where she is coming from with her convictions even when she has moments bordering on TSTL. Reed does a good job as the reluctant knight in shining armor. The dogs as always bring much joy. The religious components is unfortunately overbearing and as with all books in Thai series in order to start their lives together everyone is super speedy to get married which feels like a rubber stamp HEA. Apologies for being harsh, I messed up selecting this series which is why I’m not rating

[Mary Baker]

In Trail of Danger, Abigail Jones runs an outreach program for troubled teens. One evening, when she has gone to the park to meet a troubled girl who has requested her help, she sees something suspicious and tries to help the person she feels is a victim. When the goons she has been watching capture her, she screams and alerts a K-9 officer and his dog. Abigail escapes, but she doesn't know who her attackers were, but they know her and begin trying to recapture her. There is a lot of suspense in this story until the very end. I enjoyed the novel and look forward to the final books in this series--True Blue K-9 Unit.

[Cathy Beckett]

Really enjoyed this read. It was fast-paced and full of action. I loved Reed Branson and his K-9 partner Jessie. Reed becomes enthralled with Abigail Jones, a counselor for troubled and homeless teens. She was assaulted by some men who were in the process of abducting a young teen for their human trafficking ring.
They try to kill Abigail several times but Reed and Jessie are always there to save the day.

[Holly Stone]

this is the first True Blue K-9 Unit book I have read since romance isn't really my thing....I really enjoyed it though, the combination of the elements in the story, Cops,K-9 and Human kidnapped teens human tafficking and the over all sense of joy, love, and faith despite the danger and rough topics made this a pretty decent read.....Looking forward to more from the True Blue K-9 Unit as I find them this is book #6

[Janet Graham]

Excellent Addition to a Great Series
This book is the seventh in a series about NYC K-9s and their handlers. In this episode, the K-9 Unit is working on breaking up a human trafficking ring when they come across evidence of their deceased commander's missing K-9. This series is best enjoyed by reading the books in order.Thist is a wonderful addition to the series that will bring you back for more.

[Hazel Robinson]

Very Good

Loved this series, Abigail worked with homeless teens, she knew all to well what they dealt with day in and day out. At 16 she was living on the street. Reed a K-9 officer patrolling the beach looking for the German shepherd of his fallen commander when he hear the screams of a woman. This story has attempted murder, kidnapping and human trafficking.

[Lynda]

Abigail was supposed to meet a needy teen from her work as a social worker. She’s attacked and loses her memory. A cop and his canine partner come to her rescue, hence the romance.
Not impressed with this because it’s very low on the canine parts and very high on the romance and religious. Interesting mystery but won’t read too many.

[Holley]

This one had a little more proseltyzing than some of the others, but part of the story is the heroine finding her way back to prayer/religion. It has an adequate amount of suspense without explicit gory details. I have found this series to be a good form of escapism a little out of my normal reading and will continue the series.

[Pages_With_Me | Génesis]

3.8

Packed with lots of action since the beginning, but it kind of receded after half the book. So it became kind of slow to read. Still, the ending was a good one.
Also, the romance seemed more forced than other books for me, but it might just be my perspective.

Looking forward to Book #7

Toodles and blessings ⚘️

[Lynn Tracy]

I have enjoyed these K-9 Unit books immensely. I like that they have the Christian element in them and they are very wholesome reading. Each one highlights a different K-9 team and their relationship with others around them. There is also a concurring theme throughout the series as the officers and their K-9s look for the killer of the Unit Chief and brother of several of the K-9 officers.

[Corinne Broxson]

Cannot wait for next book

I really enjoy this book. The Christian principle series is so refreshing. I'm always sad when it's finished and impatiently waiting on the next . I wish more were released every month!

[Jennifer]

The book was pretty good with lots of suspense. Took me a bit to get into the story but once I had a couple of chapters under me I really got dragged into the story. Moving onto the next book in the series.

[angela yargus]

God Makes Families!

I love the way this novelist works!
She leads you up to make you believe you have it all figured out, and then, she heads off in another direction!
Thanks for a delightful story!

[sandy moore]

Trail of danger

Once again a story that is so compelling it is hard to put down. There is always new social issues in each story that help us understand this time the runaway children. As always there is the growth of trusting God in every situation.

[Edith Meza]

Non stop action

I dont know how these wonderful writers can come up with a new plot time after time. This is a great book, good story line. Of you like excitement, you will like this.

[Sharon]

This series is moving along, albeit far too slowly for my liking. The "faith" based elements in this story impressed me as being superior to what is often presented in this genre.

[charmaine White]

Good Read

Nice enjoyable story,full of thrills and chills with a whole lot of action and laughter.I'll be looking forward to reading more from this author.

[Donald And]

Awesome book

I am loving this series. Can't wait for the next book. I recommend this series to everyone. Each book brings more and hopefully answers soon.

[Rebecca Delio]

Exceptional Story

As always I loved this book, I have read all of the K-9 stories to date, they are all wonderful stories. I give this book a Five Star rating....