I recently finished Hand of Fate, (provided to me by Thomas Nelson publishers) the second novel in the “Triple Threat” series by Lis Wiehl. I’ve had the book for almost a year, but I wanted to wait until closer to the third book’s (Heart of Ice) publication–waiting a year between books one and two was awful, and I didn’t want to make that mistake again!

I really like this series. The first book, Face of Betrayal, was very exciting and suspenseful. I enjoyed being introduced to and getting to know the main characters in that book, and I was really looking forward to learning more of their back stories in future books. Because I enjoyed the first book so much, I had high hopes for Hand of Fate. I wasn’t disappointed!

The second book in the series focuses on the murder of radio personality Jim Fate, who also appeared in Face of Betrayal. As the “triple threat club”–FBI agent Nic Hedges, federal prosecutor Allison Pierce, and TV reporter Cassidy Shaw–begins to investigate Fate’s untimely death, they come across many people who had motive and opportunity for murder. But who really did it?

The reason I like this series so much is because I don’t know “whodunit” by the third chapter. Actually, I had no idea who the murderer was until he (or she) was actually revealed. I don’t find these to be typical suspense novels, because most are so very predictable. Instead, these books feel more like reading an episode of 24.

My only complaint about this book is that, also like 24, a whole lot of bad stuff seems to happen to all of the main characters in a very short amount of time. You have to wonder if three friends can all really go through that much trouble together. That seemed a bit far-fetched to me, but those were really side stories; the main story I found to be excellently written, with just enough suspense to keep me reading all night.