"If I'm Found" by Terri Blackstock

So, you might have been wondering why, if I loved If I Run so much, it took me NINE MONTHS to read the second book in the trilogy.  I will tell you.  It's because I was waiting for book 3 to be released, because I knew once I finished book 2, I would want to dive right into book 3.  And I was right.  As soon as I finish writing this review, I'm going to start reading If I Live, which came out last week.

All told, I didn't like this one quite as well as book 1.  Partly that's because I tend not to like middle stories in trilogies because they frustrate me with their lack of resolution.  But in this case, it's also because there's an abused, probably molested child at the center of the story.  And ever since I had kids of my own, I've had a really hard time with stories that involve any kind of child abuse, especially molestation.  Even though this is only suspected abuse, and it never goes into detail as to what might be happening to the child, it was still very hard for me to read.  I almost quit reading in the middle, to be honest.  (SPOILER) Happily, by the end of the story the child has been rescued, at least.

The story is a continuation of If I Run, of course, with Casey Cox still running from the corrupt police officers who have framed her for the murder of her best friend.  Dylan Roberts is still on her trail, but he's convinced of her innocence now and is trying to find her so they can pool the evidence they've independently gathered that will take down those corrupt police officers.  Of course, since there's a whole book to go, they don't manage to do more than meet up yet.  Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut they start to develop romantical feelings toward each other, which makes things even more interesting and injects some welcome light into an otherwise bleak story.  Also, Casey is continuing her journey toward faith in God, and Dylan is finding some help in battling his PTSD, so yeah, there's some good news in amongst the bad.

Particularly Good Bits:

I don't know where I am, but when you have no destination, it doesn't really matter if you get lost (p. 3).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG-13 for violence, including guns and hand-to-hand fights; for suspenseful situations; for innuendo regarding a man having an extramarital affair; for discussions of suicide; for drug use (shown to be evil); and for alleged child abuse/molestation.  There's no bad language.

This is my 4th book read and reviewed for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2018.  Yay!  I'm a third of the way to my goal already!