Lost Angel: A Midlife Crisis Thriller

Midlife Crisis Thrillers #2

by Sam Knight

“Freaking awesome! Dive in with this divorced dad and his small-town woes, then get swept away by his deadly race to find a missing child—and maybe a new definition of family. Competitive Christmas floats? A body at the Reindeer Games? The holidays will never be the same! After this explosive introduction, I'm eagerly awaiting Knight’s next thriller.” -- E. Chris Ambrose, author of the Bone Guard series“Fast, yet smooth. Knight has a writing style that pulls you in, and a story that won’t let you go.” --Nick Thacker, USA Today Bestselling Author“In this spellbinding story, Jeff McKenzie thought nothing could be worse than losing his wife to another man until his ex’s stepson goes missing and he becomes the prime suspect. With time running out and twists and turns coming at him from all angles, Jeff races to clear his name and hopefully find the missing boy. The likeable main character, Jeff McKenzie, makes you keep turning pages to see what happens next." –Marta Sprout, award-winning author of ISLAND OF BONES. Jeff McKenzie used to be young, good-looking, and married. Now his ex-wife’s new husband is all of those things, and Jeff is just doing the best he can to spend time with his teenage daughter. But when a body turns up in the park during the holiday festival and sets the town on edge, and then his ex-wife’s stepson vanishes right off Jeff’s float during the Christmas parade, accusations fly. His float, his fault, and maybe the two incidents are related. With the police breathing down his neck, accusing him of murder and kidnapping, even his own daughter starts doubting him, and Jeff knows he is running out of time to find the real kidnapper before it’s too late—for everyone.

269 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 13, 2022

About the author

A Colorado native, Sam Knight spent ten years in California’s wine country before returning to the Rockies. When asked if he misses California, he gets a wistful look in his eyes and replies he misses the green mountains in the winter, but he is glad to be back home.

As well as having been Distribution Manager for WordFire Press and Senior Editor for Villainous Press, Sam Knight started his own publishing company, Knight Writing Press, and has curated and edited over a dozen anthologies and is the author of six children’s books, four short story collections, four novels, and over 75 short stories, including three co-authored with Kevin J. Anderson, two of which were media tie-ins: a Planet of the Apes story and a Wayward Pines story. He can be found at SamKnight.com and contacted at Sam@samknight.com.

Reviews

[Shannon Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun and often sweet book. Real, relatable, and high stakes. When Jeff's kinda-stepson disappears off his holiday float, police look at him first. If he doesn't find the little boy, no one will; they're too busy looking in the wrong places. Jeff gets beat up throughout the story, Die Hard style, but keeps going, and there's plenty of action and intrigue.

[Jillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is part of a series of midlife crisis thrillers.

Jeff McKenzie is the protagonist of the story. He’s divorced with a teenage daughter. The girl is secretive and doesn’t spend a lot of time with her father. He’s a bit lonely and also still a bit obsessed with his former wife who has remarried and has a small stepson with her new spouse.
Jeff is in charge of one of the floats for the Christmas parade. One that has a lot of children on it as a children’s choir.

During the parade, one child disappears. And it’s the one child that puts Jeff in the crosshairs of the local police. His former wife’s stepchild.

Convinced he’s the one who has arranged the boy’s disappearance, local law enforcement are determined to pin it on him. Jeff himself is determined to find the boy and return him safely to his family.

A wild ride ensues as the reader is swept along with the tide that threatens to overtake Jeff.

The next few days are hazardous not only to Jeff’s chances of staying out of jail, but also hazardous to his health.

Over the time the story takes place, Jeff learns some things about his daughter, the man his wife is married to, and also about himself.

I liked this story a lot. It was fast paced but also contained a good character growth arc. I did figure out whodunit pretty quickly, but I enjoyed the journey with Jeff as he discovered that he had depths to himself he never suspected.

[Torie Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me, I'm not much of a figuring out a mystery kind of person.

But I am very much a character person, and these characters are written SO well. The emotions are raw and real. The interactions are believable and page turning. And the character arc for our main man is just ::chef's kiss:: --- all while trying to beat the clock and find a missing boy before it's too late.

Oh, and maybe there's a teeny, tiny touch of a romance, which makes me happy.

[Marty Tool · Rating 5 out of 5]

Starts slowly to really get where the main character is coming from and his family and community involvement. Once a body is found the story becomes a breakneck who done it. Lots of twists and turns and crazy action, very easily seen in your mind. Great writing and unlikely heros make this a page turner.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun story. It takes a while to get going but then pulls you in. The ending is a little abrupt, I would have liked a little more closure around some of the characters and more explanations.