Dylan’s Song by P.M. Terrell – Review and Guest Blog

BLURB:  

Dylan Maguire returns to his native Ireland with psychic spy Vicki Boyd. Their mission: to locate and extract a CIA Agent who disappeared in Dublin while on the trail of a known terrorist. But when Dylan receives word that his grandmother is dying, he is plunged into a past he thought he’d left behind forever. His mission and the dark secrets he’d sought to keep hidden begin to merge into an underworld that could cost him his life. He must now confront his past demons and the real reason he left Ireland—while Vicki harbors a secret of her own.

Suspense Magazine says, “p.m.terrell’s writing is powerfully written and masterfully suspenseful; you have to hang on for the ride of your life.” Midwest Book Review says the Black Swamp Mysteries series is “page-turning action, unforgettable characters, breathtaking descriptions and unexpected plot twists.” And syndicated reviewer Marcia Freespirit says the series is “riveting, spell-binding, sexy and intense!”

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My Review:

This story is very good. The first chapter of this book is very gripping. Vicki has psychic powers, a special gift of being able to see ghosts through the veil to the other side. Dylan and Vicki are a couple who have a good relationship but it is soon put through an extreme test with their next assignment. Both are  government agents, whose next assignment is to go to Dylan’s home, in Ireland, to rescue another agent who has been taken hostage. Dylan refuses to go but won’t explain why. It’s when he hears that his grandma is dying that Vicki is able to convince him that they need to go. They get back to his hometown in time for his grandmother to meet Vicki before she dies. Dylan who does not want to share his childhood with Vicki, is sent into a bit of a tail spin when his past comes back to haunt him. He’s not the only one harboring secrets though, Vicki wants to tell him hers but knows that he won’t do the mission if he finds out. So she keeps quiet. Dylan and two other agents find the dungeon in an impossible place, thanks to Vicki’s gift of seeing. Without it they’d have never found it otherwise. The rescue goes awry and Dylan is forced to confront his past.

I enjoyed this book. I found myself rooting for Vicki to not only tell Dylan her secret but to also get Dylan to tell her his secret about his childhood. To not give up on him. There are some interesting twists and humor that added to the story.

This book left me wanting more, which is good as this is part of a series. A really interesting read. This is the first book I’ve read by P.M. Terrell but I will definitely be looking for more.

This book was given to me for a review but the opinion is all mine.

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Excerpt:

The bogs were no place to be during the witching hour.

Dylan had grown up with stories of the bogs at night. The ground percolated; it lived and it breathed. There had been many a time when he was harvesting peat in broad daylight that he’d heard a whisper at his ear or felt hot breath on his neck, only to find there was no one near. Now as he rode his horse in silence, he felt that presence tenfold; there were eyes watching them. The intermittent tuffs of heather swayed in the growing storm and he found himself watching them with narrowed eyes, waiting for the plants to morph into sinister creatures that claimed this land after the sun went down.

He knew there was a simple reason why animals were required in lieu of an all-terrain vehicle and he was glad Sam had taken this unique land into consideration when planning the mission. He could feel the hooves beneath him sinking into the spongy earth; a wheeled vehicle wouldn’t have stood a chance, especially as they ventured from the area farmed for its peat to one far less stable.

A mist began; a slow, fine spray that he knew well. One moment the air was still and dry and the next, as though they’d passed through a curtain, the air swirled around them, the moist haze further inhibiting their ability to see. It was said many a man lost his internal compass in the Irish mist; it taunted as it grew into monstrous shapes, turning the landscape into something foreign and active.

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If a book could be a movie… by P.M. Terrell

If just one of my books could be made into a movie, it would have to be Songbirds are Free. Though it was released several years ago, it’s remained my most popular book—and for good reason. It’s based on the true story of a remarkable young woman named Mary Neely.

Mary was my ancestor. Her family had immigrated to America from Ireland two generations before her, settling in Virginia and North Carolina. In 1779, the Neely family moved west to Fort Nashborough, which is now Nashville, Tennessee. It was in August of 1780 that Shawnee warriors attacked Mary and her father William as they worked near the Cumberland River. William was killed and scalped and Mary was captured—and her ordeal was just beginning.

She was taken thousands of miles from home, deep into Indian Territory. She had been singing at the time of her capture and the Shawnee renamed her “Songbird” for her beautiful voice. Legend has it that she turned to her captors and said, “But songbirds are free,” which is where the title of the book comes from.

Mary was made a slave to the chieftain’s wife and remained a captive for three years before she was able to successfully escape and make her way back home, on foot and alone. Writing her story changed my life and my perspective on many things that seem like challenges. Knowing what she endured and how she survived makes any modern day challenges seem miniscule in comparison.

I followed in her footsteps from the place of her capture through Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan, where she escaped. She then made her way across Canada and into New York and down to Pennsylvania, where she was rescued by an American soldier at Fort Pitt. The book is written as an adventure/suspense beginning at the time of her capture and following her journey in captivity, her escape and her return home.

If this was made into a movie, I would love to see Dakota Fanning play Mary Neely. Mary was 19 years old at the time of her capture, and I can see Dakota Fanning playing each of the complex emotions she encountered throughout her ordeal—the shock, the pain, the anger, the separation and eventually her acceptance of the Shawnee tribe.
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AUTHOR INFORMATION:

p.m.terrell is the award-winning, internationally acclaimed author of more than 16 books. Vicki’s Key, one of the first books in the Black Swamp Mysteries series, was one of five finalists in the 2012 International Book Awards (Mystery/Suspense) and 2012 USA Best Book Awards (Mystery/Suspense.) River Passage, an historical work based on her ancestor’s migration to Fort Nashborough in 1779-1780, won the 2010 Best Fiction & Drama Award. The Nashville (TN) Metropolitan Government Archives determined it to be so historically accurate that they entered the original manuscript into their Archives for future researchers and historians.

Prior to becoming a full-time author in 2002, terrell founded and operated two computer companies in the Washington, DC area. Her clients included the United States Secret Service, CIA, Department of Defense and federal and local law enforcement. Her specialty is in the areas of computer crime and computer intelligence. Her experience in these areas have greatly influenced her books’ plots.

She is the co-founder of The Book ‘Em Foundation, whose slogan is “Buy a Book and Stop a Crook” and whose mission is to raise awareness of the link between high crime rates and high illiteracy rates. She founded Book ‘Em North Carolina Writers Conference and Book Fair, an annual event to raise money to increase literacy and reduce crime.

For more information on Book ‘Em North Carolina, visit www.bookemnc.org and www.bookemnc.blogspot.com.

p.m.terrell’s website is www.pmterrell.com and her blog is www.pmterrell.blogspot.com.