Book Review: Stranglehold

Katherine Jeffries

Holy smoke, that was quite the novel! It's 676 pages long, and took some time to get through.

I usually eschew gruesome novels by male writers; just not my thing.  This was a surprisingly violent novel by a woman. It has a lot of violence that might be construed as gratuitous, as well as violence that is vital to the plot, I was of mixed feelings as I read. There is such pain, kidnapping, torture and violence in the world, it is true. It makes me grateful for living where I do, and having the advantages of being adopted by a working-class family who loved me.  I had to skip some of the violence, and that helped. I did get sucked into the plot enough that I had to read to the end. It was a jolly good read, otherwise.

The characterization is excellent. She's not a virgin writer! The voice is consistent between the two main characters who take turns by chapter, and the angst rings true for me.

The setting, plot and other aspects of piece of fiction, reflect a well-educated author, with a good editor and a great team getting the book to print. As I read a book for review, I usually turn down the corners of a page where I find a mistake, misprint or other incongruity, and there were none. It's a curse, as a retired teacher, and this is a good sign of a well-thought out book.

Katherine Jeffries, who has been writing fiction and poetry since age 12, majored in English at Brigham Young University and saw her first foray into fiction writing with an exceptionally well-received fan fiction titled An Angel’s Hell. That inspired her first novel, Darkness Comprehended, which explored the often purposeless feeling of suffering through the story of a woman who was determined to go anywhere– even across spiritual boundaries—to bring back her lost her lost husband. The wife of a law enforcement professional, Katherine lives in Southern California with her family.

Stranglehold is available via Amazon

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