Sunday Salon: SIX SECONDS by Rick Mofina

I recently had the pleasure of reading and reviewing an ARC (advanced reading copy) from a fellow Canadian author. Those of you who have accepted the challenge of reading 13 Canadian books for the 2nd Canadian Book Challenge, should really add Six Seconds by Rick Mofina to your list.

Six Seconds by Rick Mofina

5 stars!

ISBN-10: 0778326128; 13: 978-0778326120
Publish date: January 1, 2009
Paperback; 496 pages; $6.99
Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Recommended for: those who enjoy rollercoaster-like suspense thrillers

Six Seconds is so taut with tension you won’t be able to put it down

Hold your breath while reading the latest thriller by Canadian author Rick Mofina. The opening prologue of Six Seconds will give you chills and sets up the novel for a relentless, mind-blowing resolution.

Samara is an Iraqi nurse who witnesses the brutal slaying of her husband and young son. Overwrought with grief, she is easily influenced by a terrorist group and becomes a willing pawn in an assassination plot. Samara manipulates Jake Conlin, an America contract driver suffering from post-traumatic distress, and convinces him to leave his wife and take his son to start a new life with her in Montana. Little does anyone know, she’s planning on ‘going out’ in a blaze of glory―and she plans to take others with her.

When Maggie Conlin discovers her husband and son have disappeared, she teams up with Corporal Daniel Graham of Canada’s RCMP. He’s investigating the strange disappearance and subsequent murder of an American family holidaying near Banff, Alberta. Clues lead him to the small town of Blue Rose Creek, California, where the Conlins reside and where he meets Maggie. Fighting his own dark shadows from the past, Graham decides to help Maggie locate her missing husband and son.

In a terrifying novel that sweeps across countries and continents, Six Seconds is a story of war, vengeance and terrorism. It explores the war in Iraq and its damaging affect on everyone involved―from soldiers to terrorists to the innocent―and the repercussions that are felt long afterward. It’s also the story of painful loss, guilt and redemption sought by people who are worlds apart and separated by culture and personal beliefs.

I’d recommend Six Seconds to anyone who enjoys rollercoaster-like suspense thrillers. Reading this novel is like watching a ticking time bomb. You know it’s going to blow; you even know where and when, but all the while you’re praying for some form of divine intervention. Rick Mofina has chosen a timely topic and added intriguing characters to the mix, creating a novel that is taut with tension, complex and disturbingly convincing.

You can pre-order Six Seconds on Amazon or get it January 1st, 2009, from your favorite bookstore.

Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
critically acclaimed author of The River
http://www.cherylktardif.com/