Exposure by Brandilyn Collins

As a member of the blog reviewer program from Zondervan, I recently received Exposure by Brandilyn Collins. Known for her trademark Seatbelt Suspense, Ms. Collins most definitely provides suspense in this book.

In this psychological thriller, Kaycee Raye finds herself constantly feeling like she is be watched. There is evidence that she is being watched, except the signs are conspicuously absent when she seeks help. She, and the reader, begin to wonder what is real and what is imagined. A theme throughout is that fear is an emotion common to all people. 

I was able to read Exposure very quickly, or maybe I should say that I was unable to NOT read it quickly. I found myself only reluctantly putting the book down once I began. The book was fast-paced and action-filled. It was moderately predictable; I was able to figure out much of the mystery about 3/4 through, but still had to keep reading to see the resolution.

Although I do frequently read mysteries, I typically do not read suspense novels because I don’t like to be scared.  While I found the novel suspenseful, it was not overly scary to me. So, if you typically read suspense, this might be a little tame, but if you’re new to the suspense genre, it would make a good introduction.

One thing that I do find interesting is that this is considered Christian fiction. There is nothing particularly Christian about this book other than two or three suggestions by a character to pray when you’re scared. There was no mention of Christ, and no evidence of any conversion experience by any of the characters. The only reason that I’ve been able to figure this is labeled as "Christian" is its lack of bad language, immorality, and graphic violence. (Although, it did contain some fairly violent portions.) Please don’t misunderstand me, I greatly appreciate being able to read books without bad language, immorality, and graphic violence, I just don’t understand why that means it’s Christian. I guess it’s a commentary on our culture where only a Christian would be interested in a book without the standard dose of sex and violence.