One Chance (Penelope Chance)

This is a powerful story about faith, and a great mystery. Officer Penelope Chance trusts her life to be directed by God. She asks for his guidance in every step she takes. When her friend is accused of attempted murder, she believes he is innocent and asks God for help to solve this case. As she investigates, the case becomes more and more weird. She has lots of puzzle pieces, but can't fit them together. The book held my interest and was a real page turner. I suspected who the culprit was, but did not expect the surprise at the end. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and am waiting for the sequel.

Patterson writes good fiction for Christian readers. There are many ways to express the ideas in a story such as this. A Christian writer must walk a line between depicting the real life activities of people and the activities of idealized Christian characters that many Christian people want to read about, It is a tricky business and I believe Patterson does a good job at it. As an author myself, I tend to lean a little more to the "real life" side of things. That doesn't mean you have to fill a book with bad language or overly descriptive scenes of sex or brutality. Some people expect a christian character to be more than a saved human beings, they want them to be perfect. This is a falsity that Christian authors must not fall prey to. Writing a contemporary novel is a difficult thing. Patterson does it well. There are editing issues in Last Chance. That is a legitimate criticism. Other than that, It is a great read about a Christian woman, in a law enforcement role, who struggles with life issues and tries to put God first, as all real Christians do. Like all real Christians it takes longer for some things than it does for others. I suspect that in further adventures Penelope will struggle with other life issues, as we all do.

ONE CHANCE by Daniel Patterson.A small town cop, named Penny, who carries a gun, but doesn't want to use. Believes firmly in God, with a running dialog to help her in her job, day by day. Has a wedding to plan soon,with the Doctor. Goes that each mile for her friends, and has a deep trust for them. What happens when Doug, who's like a brother to her, may have killed his ex wife. Since she has left him, his companion has been the bottle, night after night, so details for him are shaky. Piece by piece she puts the events together. A good plot that flowed, characters were described good. Looking for more with Penny. Recommend to all, of a crime that settles around a female cop to solve.

Before I even begin this review I need to be up-front about why bought and read this book. I am currently in the process of checking out the Christian Fiction scene, specifically with respect to some self published authors. I wanted to know if there is any "there" there. This process is ongoing, but I read this book (just one book among a hodgepodge of others in the genre) and felt I ought to give it a fair review. This book ultimately turned out to be greater than the sum of its parts. And there were some bad parts. First off, the book would greatly benefit from just a little more editing. Things like sentence structure and formatting were the most plentiful offenders, but overall these things were minor. I can see how they might distract other readers from the story but I didn't mind them too much. Second, I'm not sure what level of research (if any) the author engaged in prior to writing. I had some head scratching moments when encountering some of the book's law enforcement details. As a reader I tried to chalk-up a lot of my misgivings to the small town police station and said to myself, "Heck, I guess when your police department is only made up of a handful of people and you know everyone one in town, maybe you can get away with a lot." But this only got me so far. For example **PLOT REVEAL WARNING** Penelope taking Doug back to her house (after Doug becomes a suspected attempted murderer) and the nights out at the Pizza Palace had me struggling to suspend disbelief. Third, the plot moved at an erratic pace. Sometimes, the plot was hugely advanced in a single chapter while other times it took several chapters to cover the same distance. This was not a huge problem for me because, again, I tried to give every liberty to the author I could. But at the end of the day it was something I was noticing on a consistent basis and it even lingered in my mind when I finished the book. Fourthly, the side plots and periphery characters didn't seem to mesh well with the overall story. I liked the idea of Jacob's character but his impact was so small that if he were to be written out of a future edition...I may not even notice. On a semi-positive note, I genuinely wanted to know about all the characters. What else happened in Pete's life to make him the town drunk? What led Camille to stray from her marriage to Doug? What was Penelope's church like? Whatever happened with that Ramirez guy? So on and so forth. Despite wanting to know about most of the characters, I liked them! I always seem to latch onto a character that play's a minor role and this book was no different for me. I loved Officer Jim Saunders. I read him looking and sounding like a Sam Elliot type character. Oh, and speaking of characters, I was nagged (and still am nagged) by a haunting question about many of the characters...how old are they?! How old or how young are these people!? Penelope, who I read as a younger woman since she was unmarried and still struggling with the events of her childhood (and looking forward to having children of her own!) was apparently old enough to become **SPOILER** the new chief of police, own her own home, and date a doctor who I am sure must be 8 to 10 years post-graduate to be running the town clinic. (To be fair though, the book never told us Jacob ran the clinic but this is what I inferred since no other doctors were ever around in the town of Franklin). Another thing that nagged me was that Doug and Penelope grew up together but I read Doug as much older for having already been married, had a 5 year-old, and now divorced with seemingly a lot of drinking experience under his belt. But as I said at the start, the book is greater than the sum of its parts. I liked the book. The fact that I finished the book should be in no way understated. I read the book in two sittings! I felt compelled to go on! The story had enough intrigue to pull me in and keep me reading. The same could not be said for many a' novel written by extremely credentialed and accomplished authors. In my opinion, the success of any fiction must ultimately be judged by whether or not it's read - and read with enthusiasm! As for me, I did indeed read this book with enthusiasm. I have also bought another title from this author: The Devil's Game. The review forthcoming.

The female heroine has genuine faith, but something from her past still has a hold on her. Easy read, very fluid with developed characters all dealing with sins and issues of today. Good mystery, I am excited to see what is next.

This was a wonderful book. I just got both books , One Chance, and The Devils Game, and finished reading both of them, I didn't want to put them down. Both books were very well written and kept you interested through the book. I told my mom about them and she got both books also. We are now letting everyone else know about the books also. I just love a good suspense/romance book and having them also be Christian books, you couldn't get much better than that. I can't wait until the next book comes out and that it will be the second in a series is great as you are able to continue on and follow the lives of these characters. I am so glad I found this author and purchased these books, I would highly recommend them.

I thought this was a great novel. I enjoyed the story and the romance between Penny and Jacob. Also, this was one of those books that I thought I knew who did it but then I changed my mind because I thought it might be someone else then I could not put it down until I really found out. Different characters keep you wondering. I sure hope Penelope has many more cases to solve because I can't wait to read them.

Yes this is a fairly simplistic book but as easy reading goes that is not necessarily a bad thing. I could see how the more senior officers would be unwilling to release the person in custody until there was more definite proof that he was not the perpetrator, but as there was also a wanted man in the frame with a history of violence, one could feel the frustration of the investigating officer. The book is clearly listed as Christian fiction and therefore references to God and faith should be expected. The author takes the opportunity to show how God is interested in every aspect of our lives and how, if the person is willing, he will guide in every situation. I liked the fact that the police department were investigating more than one case, and in this instance they were not connected to the main case of the story. (I would, however, have liked to have read the result of the confrontation of the teenage runaways and their parents.) It is a pleasant way to pass a hour or so, and I enjoyed it.

If you want to read a book that is hard to put down until it is finished, you have got to read this one. So much in it to teach us to Trust in God, and stand fast to His standards for our lives.

Good to read a book with a Christian Protagonist. Interesting plot with a lot of twists. A bit simplistic at times

The cover of this book is the best thing about it. I got this free and I am glad I didnt pay for it. The story is predictable and insulting to the reader. The characters are unbelievable and the writer does not go into enough depth to make you care about them. The plot is so transparent but apparently not to the Deputy on the case who seems to rely solely in her belief in god to help her see the truth. Personally if she had spent more time actually looking at the case rather than praying she would have solved it in about 2 chapters as I did!!! Plot - Deputys best friend gets framed for an attemted murder and then murder of his ex-wife and Deputy Penelope Chance has to put aside her personal feelings and try and save her best friend from being charged with these crimes. Relatively simply plot and when a known felon wanted for armed robbery and murder turns out to be the boyfriend of the murdered woman and he is on the run and turns upin town not hard to figure out - well thats what you would think but apparently the whole of the Franklin police department still think its the man that has no motive and no previous?? This plot just did not make sense and was insulting to me the reader. I dont mind a book that is easy to solve if the the characters and plot are believable - these arent. I also felt that the countless references to faith where too much and felt false - the character wasnt believable enough to believe her faith was heart felt. This book has all the right ingredients but it reads like a tick list - love interest tick, god versus evil tick, murder tick, bad guy tick, twist (very poor so dont get get excited!!) tick oh and dont forget the painful past that needs to be overcome tick!! ALL the ingredients just put together to simply and without conviction.

very simple, not that I can write a book. But it felt like I was reading a grade 12's work