I love the allure of Natalie Walter’s characters.  The story incorporates several characters but it was easy to keep track of them.  The whole narrative takes place in about nine days so there’s only so much character growth that can happen in a week and a half, but the characters are full of life and each adds great depth to the story. The main characters exude humility and compassion. Natalie does a marvelous job creating a puzzle that keeps the reader wanting more, then pulls it all together tying up loose ends. Throughout the story there’s a romance running secondary to all the challenges but it adds to the fun of it all.

After reading authors like Irene Hannon and Lynette Eason, Natalie Walters takes her story telling to the next level.  It felt dense at first but still enjoyable.  About a chapter into Lights Out, I was loving the characters and storyline so much that it all felt very balanced.  Comparing authors like Hannon, Eason, and Walters is like comparing the animated version of the Hobbit to the live action version. Both are good, but one is much lighter and diverting and the other is more serious and weighty. For a Christian author, her mentions of God are brief so I hope that in future books Natalie Walter’s characters speak more boldly about their faith in God.

Natalie Walter’s has written nine books, including this one.  The good news is that there are four books in this series including a novella that gives the back story to the SNAP agency which is the main focus of this book.  All are published, including one recently published this year, 2023. It looks like they are about other members of the SNAP team which is nice because we want to know more about our new favorite team. Based on Lights Out, I look forward to reading the other three books in this series. 

Review of a copy provided by the publisher

Content Review:

Profanity/Language: None

Violence/Gore: A vehicle accident, a baby in the SUV, no mention of how it turned out; a woman was attacked by a man, she proceeded to kick his butt, detailed and blood mentioned; a fireman on 9/11 was buried in the rubble, he was permanently disabled, a few mentions that he died years later; mention of a mother who passed away; three men from a foreign country who were human trafficked and in miserable condition; an intentional traffic accident, two men knocked unconscious, two other men kidnapped, mildly descriptive of injuries, blood mentioned; two men found dead, mention of a lot of blood splatter; a vehicle bomb exploded; man died of a heart attack, some description but not gory; woman faints, has medical issue; a man was found shot dead; a young woman from a foreign country was sold by her parents; a man slaps a young woman so hard it loosened her tooth; a vehicle drove on a community street like it was going to run purposely into kids, character ends up with a broken bone; mention of some detail from 9/11 & the Boston marathon bombing, mention of people dead and hundreds hurt; terrorists get into a building with intent to kill many, security policeman punched and knocked out, many threatened, man holds a gun to a woman’s head, two dead, one knife wound, mention of blood, some details but not gruesome; character shot dead; a vehicle bomb kills two people, mention of charred remains but no detail.

Sex/Nudity:  A man and a woman had a relationship a few years prior, no details; implied two young women, age unknown, were human trafficked and would be forced into the slave trade; a man and a woman often share lovey looks and almost kiss a few times; a man and a woman kiss.                       

Mature Subject Matter:

Entitlement, arranged marriage, unborn baby with birth defects, abortion, inequality (women), espionage, sacrifice in line of public service, terrorists (foreign & American), Jihad, death of a family member, human trafficking, cancer.

Drug/Alcohol Use:

Cigarette smoking; fentanyl poisoning.