The Sound of Red Returning by Sue Duffy (Book Review)

After losing everyone she loves, concert pianist Liesl Bower has nowhere to go but to escape into her music. Searching for the peace she usually finds in her concertos and sonatas, Liesl can’t shake the feeling that she is being haunted by her past . . . and by someone following her. When she spots a familiar and eerie face in the audience of a concert she’s giving for the president in Washington, DC, the scariest day of her life comes back to her with a flash. It has been fifteen years since Liesl watched her beloved Harvard music mentor assaulted on a dark night in Moscow and just as long since the CIA disclosed to her that he’d been spying for Russia. She had seen that man–that eerie face–the night Professor Devoe was attacked. And now he’s back–and coming for her.

On the run and struggling to rely on the protection of CIA agent Ava Mullins and handsome newspaper reporter Cade O’Brien, Liesl learns she is the prey of an underground cell of Russian KGB agents determined to restore their country to its former Soviet might. But what she doesn’t know is that she is in possession of something–a piece of sheet music–that Russian intelligence is now frantic to find. Inside that music is a secret code, the hidden transcriptions of her deceased mentor, that clearly identify a Russian mole operating inside Israel’s Department of Defense, a mole with enough power and access to execute a daring assassination that no one would see coming.

Caught in a deadly conflict between American and Russian undercover agents, this innocent young pianist is just trying to survive her own personal trauma. Through it all, Liesl must learn that no matter how dark her world grows or how fiercely her enemies pursue her, God is still in control–if only she can yield herself to His grace. Read an excerpt here: http://www.sueduffybooks.com/#!vstc1=books

About the author:

Sue Duffy is an award-winning writer whose work has appeared in Moody Magazine, The Presbyterian Journal, Sunday Digest, and The Christian Reader. She is the author of Mortal Wounds (Barbour, 2001) and Fatal Loyalty (Kregel, 2010). Sue has also contributed to Stories for a Woman’s Heart (Multnomah). She and her husband, Mike, have three grown children.

Find out more at www.sueduffybooks.com.

My Thoughts

Duffy writes an inspiring story of one young woman’s courage in the face of fear when the past she thought was behind her collides with her present. She successfully draws you into her story where you find intrigue and suspense along with a depth not often found in books with these elements.

Liesl Bower is an accomplished pianist who is so successful she is invited to play for The President. That alone speaks of her talent. She lives a solitary life now that most of her family is gone and her music is her life and constant companion. That is until she has some unwelcome visitors from the CIA. Fifteen years before, her mentor and teacher is murdered right in front of her, accused of being a Russian spy. He accidentally passed along a secret code to her that she has remained completely unaware of until now.

Liesl’s life as she knows it changes in an instant as the pressure is on to find the code in her Grandmother’s home that she hasn’t visited in more than a year. There she will meet a friend in her Grandmother’s tenant Cade. An unlikely interest is sparked at the most inopportune time. Will they be drawn together or torn apart by the code? Can she find it? Will the CIA leave her alone if and when she does? The fate of a nation lies in her hands.

Duffy weaves her story together in a powerful climax leading to an ending that does not disappoint.

Lindsey
Sr. Review Crew

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Win a Kindle Fire from @SueDuffy2 and @KregelBooks in the “Red Returning” Giveaway!

Sue Duffy and her publisher, Kregel Publications, are celebrating the release of The Sound of Red Returning by giving away a Kindle Fire prize package worth over $200 to one lucky winner!!!! (1/23-2/11)

Enter the Sue Duffy’s Giveaway today and you could win:

* A brand new Kindle Fire with Wi-Fi

* The Sound of Red Returning (Book One in the Red Returning series) by Sue Duffy

To enter click one of the icons below. But, hurry! The giveway ends on 2/11. Sue will be announcing the winner of the “Red Returning” Giveaway on February 13th on the Litfuse website!