Product Description

Readers who loved the first three Colton Parker Mysteries will devour this latest entry in the fast–paced and highly recommended series.

After closing a high profile case, Colton Parker’s life is beginning to turn around. His detective agency has money in the bank, a growing clientele, and the relationship between Colton and FBI agent Mary Christopher is beginning to blossom. Things are looking up...until his daughter, Callie, vanishes.

The search for Callie will lead Colton into a world he has never seen. A world where everything is wrong—and wrong is right. A world where light is exchanged for darkness, and the truth is sacrificed for a lie.

If Colton is to save Callie in time, he will need to confront evil where it dwells. A confrontation that will affect both father and daughter for all eternity.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #300390 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780736921404
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Customer Reviews

A lost sheep found
Brandt Dodson's "The Lost Sheep" follows Private Investigator Colton Parker as he tries to build his agency, bolster his finances, and most importantly, forge a relationship with his daughter Cassie while both are still grieving the death of his wife. Then Cassie disappears, and Colton is tempted to step over a line he's crossed in the past with disasterous results.

In his quest to find Cassie, Colton travels to Las Vegas where he slips deep into that city's seamy underbelly of prostitution. Dodson's style is sparse and a welcome masucline voice in the mystery genre of inspirational fiction. Colton reminds me a little of Robert Parker's Jesse Stone, only without the booze. Colton has his own vices--a tendency to get rough with the suspects and a lingering disregard for the rules. Somehow his fallibility makes him all the more likeable.

I find myself rooting for Colton Parker for a couple of reasons. He wants to do the right thing, but sometimes he just can't. The ends tend to justify the means for him. Like the rest of us, he has his flaws, but ultimately, at the core, he is a good man who faces his demons and finds redemption is possible. That gives the rest of us hope.

Colton's knock-down-drag-out fight with evil will keep you sitting on the edge of your chair, turning the pages long after you should've flipped the switch and crawled under the covers.

Frantic Attempts
Brandt Dodson's fourth mystery follows the trend of using a biblical reference for a title. Although this one seems a bit clunky, it is suited perfectly to the story of Colton Parker, former FBI agent, as his search for his missing fifteen-year-old daughter leads him to Las Vegas.

Colton is one of the best current characters in mystery fiction, mixing the old-school traits of a Dashiell Hammett private eye with the modern sensibilities of a Jonathan Kellerman. His frantic attempts to locate his daughter drag him into the seedy underground dealings of Sin City. Colton pursues his cause with the help of a likable sidekick named Marty, and their personal investigation starts to draw lots of dangerous attention. Soon, Colton and Marty are in deep trouble as they unmask a ring of shady businesses overseen by a man with cul tish charisma.

"The Lost Sheep" has a few surprises along the way, but the story's real strength is found in Colton's weakness. He is a father obsessed with his daughter's safety--understandably so!--and cannot keep himself from fighting on the same terms as his enemies. This pushes him into constant conflict with local authorities. It also stays true to his character from throughout the series, providing some of the best, hardest hitting, Christian fiction out there.

Colton pulls no punches. Neither does Brandt Dodson. With respect for his audience, Dodson manages to make things remarkably gritty. He writes with snappy dialogue, cynicism, and a minimalistic approach to emotion that works. Whether this is the last of the series or not, the Colton Parker mysteries will stand as some of the best ever in this market.

The fourth in the series is the best yet
Brandt Dodson's The Lost Sheep is the fourth installment in the series featuring ex-FBI agent turned detective Colton Parker, and it may be the last since his next book is a stand alone police thriller. The novel opens with a emotional bang. Parker's daughter Callie is missing. She leaves a message on the machine one afternoon telling Parker to not try and fnd her. Of course, that is exactly what Parker is going to do. Parker searches Indianapolis for Callie and finds that Callie has started hanging with a crowd that may be into Satanism. Parker eventually gets a lead that Callie may be in Las Vegas. Parker travels to Sin City and teams with an ex-brothel owner turned Christian Crusader named Marty. Marty guides Parker through the seedy side of Vegas as they look for his daughter.

I've read the entire series and some of the best scenes are Parker's struggle to maintain a relationship with his daughter, who still blames him for the death of his wife and her mother. Callie is fifteen now and struggling to find out where she belongs. Colton is also on the verge of a romance with former co-worker Special Agent Mary Christopher.

In Vegas, Parker witnesses the dark side of the city, and fears that Callie may be lost for good, even if he finds her. Dodson offers a message of hope, that no matter what Callie may have done, God will still do anything to find one of his lost sheep. While the mechanics of the plot suffer a bit, the ending of the novel packs a whallop! This is a novel in which the stakes will never be higher. Colton Parker must save his daughter from the ultimate evil. An even greater fear is will Callie even want to go back with him?

This novel ranks with the first in the series, Original Sin. Fans of the detective genre should start at the beginning of the series. They won't be disappointed.