I recently met Janice Cantore at the Mt. Hermon Christian Writers’ Conference in California. She is a quiet, trim woman who did not seem to be more than a nice person you would meet in line at the grocery store. Meeting her did not in any way prepare me for the action packed, suspense-filled book I read with her name on it.

Reading her bio gave me a glimpse into her credentials for writing this story of a police officer in big trouble. She was after all an officer herself for over 20 years on the Long Beach police force. She has the training and the resources to make this very authentic. But that experience didn’t gift her as a storyteller. And only a gifted storyteller could weave personal experience and fictional backdrop so well.

The heroine of the story is Detective Carly Edwards who is put on the juvenile force after her partner shoots an unarmed man. Carly is trying to get her old job back as a detective and prove she’s still a good cop. She’s also putting her personal life on a new track after her divorce from fellow officer Nick. He’s trying to prove he’s a changed man.

In the middle of this drops friend and undercover cop Jeff with a bombshell that something is terribly wrong at the Las Playas police force and city government. He looks like he’s gone over the edge and sounds crazy with his accusations, but there is just enough in his story to make Carly think there might be something to his story. Enough to promise she’ll keep her eyes open. But his warning to trust no one haunts her as she tries to uncover the truth.

The suspense is kept strong throughout the story and danger is everywhere, not only for Carly, but for her mother, ex-husband and the witnesses she interviews. The shifting truth points to a widespread evil.

This is the first in The Pacific Coast Justice Series. If you like Ms. Cantore’s writing and storytelling, there will be more to follow. Published by Tyndale House Publishers in 2012. Her next novel is set to be released in the summer of 2012 and is titled Abducted.