Review – Behind the Badge

In Behind the Badge, Susan Sleeman has pulled off another riveting, love-inspired suspense. Sydney Tucker is a rookie cop who receives threatening phone messages, insinuating that someone may get hurt unless she turns over crucial evidence taken from the home of a drug bust. She’s in a quandary, as she has no idea what that evidence could be, as she didn’t take anything from the house.

Under the order of Logan Lake police chief, Russ Morgan, Sydney is assigned to work with him to find who is behind the threats being sent. Having had a crush on Russ back in high school, she wonders how they will work together. Little sparks of romance begin to seep out, but both try to keep wraps around their emotions, so they can concentrate on the investigation and subsequent protective custody. However, both Sydney and Russ have broken pasts and secrets that hinder their working and personal relationships.

Susan leads us on a wild goose chase, trying to stay ahead of the perpetrator. The ever-changing plots and twists in the story thoroughly keep your attention as your mind tries to encapsulate who the culprit is. The trails of evidence pull you into different directions, throwing you off course as to how you think it went down. The story line is vivid and true to the methods of police training and operations, with a few minor tweaks here and there by the characters to pull off secret plans!

Susan does a great job of exemplifying Nikki’s defiant attitude toward Sydney’s `unfair’ rules, escalating their relationship to the point where Nikki sneaks out and causes more problems throughout the deadly crisis. She depicts the typical behavior for a defiant teenager trying to find her own way and fun, even if it eventually causes undue tension and danger for others.

Sydney’s faith kept her going throughout the whole ordeal, knowing God was aware of all that was transpiring, though she didn’t understand it all. Russ wasn’t as open. And Nikki–forget it, she too old for Sunday school times.

I was hooked by all the twists and plots, the numerous and innocuous phone messages, the perpetrator’s knowledge, the accuracy of police procedures, the romantic tension between Russ and Sidney, Sydney’s faith, and the defiant teenage behavior amidst the tension of a dangerous situation. This is just as riveting as Susan’s previous novel, High-Stakes Inheritance. She is an author that will go far!