If I Run

If I Run
Terri Blackstock
Zondervan
Grand Rapids, Michigan
ISBN: 9780310332435
Trade Paperback
2016
$ 15.99
352 pages

"We've logged all the evidence against the girl.  We have a rock-solid case.  Her DNA is all over the place.  Shoe prints, finger prints, the weapon...She did it."
The police said that she is the "person of interest," the one in their mind who committed the crime.  But she is innocent.
Casey Cox is the type of person most of us would enjoy knowing.  She's kind, considerate, and is driven to help people. Thirteen years ago when she was twelve-years-old,  her father died.  The police investigation concluded it was a suicide, but Casey never believed it.  Her father as a police officer had been investigating dirty cops.  Strange that he died just as his findings were to be revealed.
What do you do when you happen across a murder scene?
Casey's good friend Brent is an investigative reporter.  He knows that Casey is haunted by her past, and he agrees to look into her father's death.  Brent is developing a solid case revealing corruption in this police department and collecting evidence.
Casey innocently goes to Brent apartment only to discover him what appears to be dead.   Naturally, she feels for a pulse which places her feet in his blood.   She is a frequent visitor at Brent's home, so she knows her DNA is everywhere.
Believing that the police who were her father's comrades were dirty, she can't go to them now.
"Don't do stupid."
"I can't promise that because I know myself, and I've already 'done stupid' since finding Brent dead."
What do you do?  Run, leave town, go somewhere while the investigation proceeds. Who is the logical criminal?   Casey.
Dylan  Roberts has returned home from three deployments, two to Iraq and one to Afghanistan and suffers from PTSD.   He earned an honorable discharge from the Army as part of the Criminal Investigations Division.  However, no one will now hire him.
Brent was a childhood friend of Dylan's.  The police do not have the resources to find Casey outside their immediate area, so Brent's family hires Dylan to bring Casey back.
If I Run is a fantastically written gripping tale.   What do you do if you are accused of a crime that you did not commit?  How do you be smart, honest,  and survive when you are being hunted as a murderer?
The characters are always struggling with the challenges of everyday life while still desiring justice for their past.
Terri Blackstock is a Christian writer of many bestselling series, Moonlighters, Cape Refuge, Newpointe 911, the SunCoast Chronicles and Restoration as well as her novels Intervention, Vicious Cycle, and Downfall.
If I Run is a fast-paced story to read even for those of us who don't plan to be accused of murder.  The smart and honest characterization of Casey is a remarkable role model for all adult readers.  The book does incorporate Christianity into the story elegantly and naturally. My only criticism of If I Run is that it ended, but I do see the possibility of Casey appearing in a future Blackstock novel.