"The Price of Valor" by Susan May Warren

The Price of Valor (Oct. 6, 2020) by Susan May Warren.*

A decade ago, Signe Kincaid was abducted by a rebel terrorist. Serving the CIA, she was undercover as a humanitarian aid worker in Chechnya. But things have gone wrong, and she’s already sent her daughter, Aggie, to Hamilton (Ham) Jones. Ham didn’t know he had a daughter until the call came to pick her up. Signe is on the run from the Chechen warlord Pavel Tsarnaev with the NOC (nonofficial covers) list and from those she’s dubbed the CIA bad guys. Trouble is, she can’t always be sure which are the CIA good guys and which are the bad. She wants to trust Ham and let go of some of the fear, but that’s hard to release after spending 10 years with a terrorist. Meanwhile, Ham wants to fix everything. After years thinking Signe was dead, he wants to be a family again. Having Signe alive and with him again, along with their daughter, makes being a family unit seem possible, if not for the guard that Signe never seems to lower. Ham will stay by Signe’s side through volcano eruptions, tsunamis and hostage situations. What will Signe do? Will she run? Is Tsarnaev truly dead? Will Ham be able to forgive Signe her secrets? What is the price of valor for the two of them?

            The third novel in Warren’s Global Search and Rescue series, this inspirational fiction, contemporary romance contains high stakes amid natural disasters and not-so-natural catastrophes. It is a story of renewal in faith, in reunion and in relationships. What is broken will slowly become whole again. Scars will remain, but they are but a roadmap on the long path of healing. The narrative is fairly fast-paced, but unfortunately, it remained lacking for me. While I appreciate Ham’s dedication to Signe, and her doubts are understandable after all she’s been through, their relationship struggles on top of those belonging to Orion Starr and Jenny Calhoun bogged down the story. It slowed down what should otherwise be a fast-paced tale. While likely a hit for Warren’s longstanding fans, for newcomers (I’ve only read this series’ previous novel before this) like myself, it’s shaky at best.

 

* Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Revell Books. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions are expressly my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”