4.19.15 Student’s ride home becomes quite an ordeal

Two novels from Texas writers mix aspects of faith and suspense and keep the action moving.

A Ride Home is San Antonio author Pamela Howell’s debut novel (Westbow Press, $11.95 paperback).

It seemed like a pretty straightforward deal to Kayla, a college student needing a ride home from San Angelo to Arizona for Thanksgiving. At the college’s ride board, she finds another student going her way. Against her roommate’s serious objections, she takes up the offer with this stranger, Mark, who turns out to be quite handsome and engaging. But soon Kayla and Mark are fighting for their lives, out in the middle of nowhere.

On her website, pamelarobertshowell.com, Howell says this about the story: “A Ride Home has a mix of adventure, danger and romance which will appeal to readers of all ages who crave a novel with all these elements minus the gratuitous profanity and sex so prevalent in this genre and in today’s culture. I wanted to write a book that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to have my mother, or my teen-aged daughter, read and discuss.

“A story doesn’t have to use profanity and sex as crutches,” she adds. “A good story stands on its own.”

Hunter: Caught in the Crosshairs (CreateSpace, $16.95 paperback) is the second novel by Abilene author Stephen M. Holt Sr.

Jayson Hunter is a hard-nosed investigative reporter who makes his living ferreting out charlatans and corrupt public officials. On a flight to Denver to expose a doctor suspected of fraud, Hunter literally bumps into Diane Carter, and they have a very friendly chat on the plane. He is smitten, but it turns out she is quite religious — and Hunter has little to do with religion these days.

Diane invites him to come to Cedar Spring, Texas (a city much like Abilene) and check out the “faith community” that she belongs to. Hunter is skeptical, but Diane’s beauty is quite persuasive.

Meanwhile, two of Hunter’s friends are killed back home in Memphis, and the fraudulent doctor is suspected to be behind the murders. Hunter realizes that he is now being hunted. As he draws closer to Diane, Hunter begins to re-examine his own faith and values and what he wants out of life.

This is Holt’s second novel, both of which advocate communities of faith outside the traditional church. Read more at stephenholtsr.com.

Glenn Dromgoole is co-author of 101 Essential Texas Books. Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.

>> Read his past Texas Reads
columns in Lone Star Literary Life here.