Collision of Lies by Tom Threadgill

I enjoyed Threadgill's novel. It is a cold case mystery with an unusual premise. Three years ago a school bus was hit by a train. All the children died. Or did they? One of the parents has received a message supposedly from her child. Amara, a San Antonio police detective decides to pursue the possibility.

The plot is complex. It takes quite a bit to convince Amara, and us, that there is a possibility the children are alive. If that's the case, then there is the complex problem of how the accident was set up, who the unrecognizable bodies in the bus were, where might the living children be now, and how could Amara possibly retrieve them? All these questions are methodically dealt with in the novel. What I thought was an unreasonable plot turned out to be explainable, although I am not sure I understand all the science explanation. One of my pet peeves is an ending where the cavalry comes over the hill to save the lone cowboy. Well, I got a little peeved with this book.

The character development was good. I am always a bit leery when a male author has a female heroine. I did like Amara although my favorite character was the medical examiner with such a quirky personality.

Unfortunately, the Christian aspect of the novel is lacking, even though it was published by a “Christian” publisher.

This is the first in a new series by Threadgill and I enjoyed this one enough that I'll be watching for the next in the series.

You can read an excerpt here and watch the book trailer here.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

Tom Threadgill is a full time author and a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. He is currently on the suspense/thriller publishing board for LPC Books, a division of Iron Stream Media. He and his wife live in rural Tennessee. Photo Credit: © David M. Humphrey

Revell, 400 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.