PRO CONNECT
D. C. Shaftoe
D. C. Shaftoe’s books span the divide between contemporary romantic suspense and inspirational romance, providing gritty and thrilling adventures told from a Christian worldview. She's not afraid to discuss real issues, to put her characters in real danger. The adventure begins in Southeast Asia with Shaftoe's first novel "Forged in the Jungles of Burma" and continues in the award-winning "Assassin's Trap" which Kirkus Reviews described as a "highly enjoyable thriller with lots of intelligence and heart". "Imperfect: A Novel", formerly entitled "Lethal Intentions: The Battle for Gideon", Finalist in the 2014 Word Awards, launched the Second Chance Series, providing a blend of exciting action and a glimpse at the many faces of Autism. "Enemy by Association" tells the story of disgraced FBI agent, Ethan Lange, and Sarah Maier, a widow with two young sons, caught up in a plot of terrorism and betrayal. Shaftoe's latest offering, "Reckless Association", tells the story of Ayden "Reck" Breckinridge, an ex-con from the gang-ravaged streets of inner-city Cincinnati. Having spent time in the city, seeing the results of poverty and recession, Shaftoe lends an authentic voice to the story of Reck and Sophie Paeten and their quest for redemption and family.
Shaftoe lives in the Niagara Region of Canada with her husband and two sons.
“A highly enjoyable thriller with lots of intelligence and heart.”
– Kirkus Reviews
FICTION & LITERATURE
Assassin's Trap
BY D. C. Shaftoe • POSTED ON Jan. 18, 2012
In Shaftoe’s (Forged in the Jungles of Burma, 2010, etc.) thriller sequel, a newly married couple finds out that marriage can be difficult when people are trying to kill you.
MI-5 agent John Brock has recently returned from the jungles of Burma with his new wife, Caroline, who now works as his administrative assistant. She’s eager to start field training, but after going through hell in Southeast Asia, all John wants to do is to carry out his duties as the head of the counterterrorism unit and keep Caroline safe. But it appears that someone has other plans, and sent an assassin after John. He thinks it’s in his wife’s best interest not to tell her, but Caroline’s desire to be an agent proves to be more forceful than he expected. Soon the couple is working together, and the action moves from London to Oslo to South Korea as they race to find out who wants John dead and why, and what lengths they will go to for revenge. This novel is as much an exploration of what makes a marriage work as it is a spy thriller, interweaving scenes of the Brocks’ relationship with adrenaline-fueled action set pieces. Shaftoe crafts a sequel that stands on its own; the previous book’s plot is easy to pick up, and the new story quickly reels readers in with a mixture of James Bond-style action, political intrigue and sympathetic characters. Although the book is a bit slow to start, it’s difficult to put down once it picks up speed, as this isn’t a generic spy story, but a thoughtful novel populated with real people. The book contains some Christian themes, but these interludes are never preachy or offensive. Shaftoe’s gift for suspense and willingness to put her characters in real danger ups the stakes, resulting in a vividly realized adventure that one can easily imagine seeing on the big screen.
A highly enjoyable thriller with lots of intelligence and heart.
Review Posted Online: March 11, 2014
ADDITIONAL WORKS AVAILABLE
Enemy By Association
Disgraced FBI agent Ethan Lange is on the run. Accused of colluding with terrorists, he has nowhere to turn, no one to trust, until Sarah Maier needs his help. When Ethan saves Sarah and her two little sons, he binds himself to them, entwining their fate with his.
Ethan is no stranger to violence having spent his undercover career infiltrating terrorist cells. When those same terrorists invade the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., Ethan is once more in the line of fire. And when Ethan brings Sarah, Teddy and Charlie into a safe house with him, the terrorists shift their deadly focus to the little family who become enemies by their mere association with Ethan. Rather than protecting them, Ethan exposes them to the dangers of gunmen, bombs and fire.
Embarking on a cross-country journey, Sarah and Ethan travel from Washington, D.C. to Colorado evading capture and trying to piece together the means of Ethan’s redemption. With the help of New York Times investigator Johnny Parsons, Ethan must protect his charges and solve the mystery of a Chechen mercenary and a U.S. Senator. But the mountains are not quite the escape that Ethan was hoping. Mercenaries, grizzly bears, rattlesnakes and the FBI threaten his life and his hope for a future with Sarah.
Published: Dec. 12, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-9684127-4-9
Forged in the Jungles of Burma
Abducted and forcibly removed to Burma for interrogation, MI-5 agent, John Brock, finds himself imprisoned with an unlikely cell mate. Caroline Wells is a Canadian widow waylaid by the cruel military junta oppressing Burma. Bereaved, yet seeking a new purpose in life, she has relied on her faith to survive her captivity, but her hope is waning. Now, with Brock as a companion, she sees change ahead for both of them. These two people from very different worlds must now learn to trust each other enough to find a way out of prison and out of Burma, all the while pursued by soldiers, leopards, and foreign spies. What love can be forged in the jungles of Burma?
Published: Aug. 12, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4502-4444-2
Imperfect
Imperfect is a gripping tale of danger and deceit and of love lost and found again as a police inspector attempts to defeat a drug lord once and for all and find the second chance in life he so desperately needs.
Zachary Marek is an Ontario police inspector who has crossed daggers with the wrong villain while
working as a member of an international drug task force. After he is imprisoned and marked for death by his powerful foe, Albanian Mafioso, Burim Gjojak, Zach is presumed gone forever—until his brothers mount a daring rescue and return him to his wife and son. But after months away, home is not the sanctuary that Zach hoped it would be. His son, Gideon, recently diagnosed with autism, is a mystery of volcanic meltdowns and violent opposition to change. His wife, Christie, is a stranger. Determined to embrace the challenges of autism and win back Christie’s heart, Zach embarks on a cross-country journey from Niagara to Wyoming to reconnect and build a new beginning with both of them. However, Gjojak doesn’t want Zach to return to any life at all. As he builds a web of betrayal and deceit around Zach, Gjojak sets a lethal snare that not only endangers Zach’s life, but also the lives of those he loves.
Published: Nov. 25, 2014
ISBN: 9781491749968
Reckless Association
…the power of God to transform a life…
Ayden "Reck" Breckinridge is a street-level enforcer, known on the inner-city streets of Cincinnati as The Wrecker. His occupation is written on his skin with ink and scars and in his eyes with a look of steel. When a community leader assaults his sister, the only person who shares space in his shriveled heart, he seeks vengeance in the only way he knows. However, just as violence breeds violence, so too does aggravated violence lead to time in a federal prison.
Upon his release, Reck finds a second chance at the foot of the Cross. Weary of pain and death, Reck grabs onto salvation with both hands, taking his first steps on the road to recovery. But can the power of God transform a life so filled with violence?
Seeking to reinvent himself, Reck leaves his criminal history behind in the gang-ravaged streets of Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati and moves to Ancora, a small town in Ohio. But what he cannot leave behind are the consequences of a lifetime of aggression. Day by day, hour upon hour, he progresses away from his past, stumbling, falling but rising up again to try anew. His life, he learns, is a work in progress.
But the people of Ancora do not want the ex-con among them. They judge him harshly, seeing only the way his apparel, his status, and behavior patterns make him differ from those in their community. Except for Sophie Paetan, who sees beyond Reck's scruffy clothes and tattoos to the man beneath. Can Reck overcome his tumultuous history to find love with Sophie? And when the selfish choices from his old life intrude abruptly on their relationship, can Sophie and Reck unite in love to overcome the consequences of Reck's past and build a future together?
Published: May 2, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-9937176-1-1