Desperate Creed by Alex Kava

Frankie Russo is on the phone with her co-worker when he's murdered. Now the men who killed him are after her. Afraid for her life, she starts driving to Florida where her friend Hannah lives and works with Ryder Creed and all his search dogs. She's going to need both theirs and FBI Agent Maggie O'Dell's help to deal with the situation she is in. But a slew of tornadoes are raging across the Southern states, making Frankie's cross-country trek even more dangerous. It also means Ryder and Jason and their K9 partners are heading into the storm's path to search for any survivors, while Ryder's vulnerable sister, Brodie, waits for them at home.

"Creed let his eyes wander out the window. Blue skies, not a hint of the storms predicted for later in the day. He realized that was sort of how Brodie was. ... There seemed to be an internal storm still brewing beneath her surface, though she pretended everything was blue skies. He knew that PTSD worked differently in everyone. He had dealt with his own on his own terms. But he also knew that it could sneak up on you when you least expected it. When you thought you'd put it behind you. Just when you felt safe and secure."

MY THOUGHTS:  This is another good one from Alex Kava--compelling and well-written. And Ryder Creed is still one of my favorite characters. In this one, he's trying to help his sister recover from her past (which is explained in Kava's previous novel Lost Creed), figure out his relationship with Maggie, and deal with the aftermath of several tornadoes alongside his best scent dog, Grace--tornadoes that put both Frankie and Maggie in jeopardy. I love all the dogs in these books. And I really like Ryder's sister, Brodie, who is both fragile and tough. And that tornado action? Crazy and scary! Desperate Creed is a great combination of mystery, suspense, and survival. I'd give it 4.5/5 stars.

Happy Reading!

P.S. Be sure to begin the Creed adventure with the first book in this series:  Breaking Creed.