Judith’s review of High Risk by Vivian Arend

LIFELINE: an elite search-and-rescue squad based out of Banff, Alberta. Specializing in high-risk rescue missions, this team goes wherever the job takes them…

Rebecca James was once revered for her devil-may-care attitude and backcountry survival skills. But ever since she lost her partner in a fatal accident, patches of her memory have been missing. And until she can recall those final, tragic moments before the accident, she can’t move on.

Since Marcus Landers was permanently injured during a mission, all his energies have been focused on his Lifeline team. When Becki—whom he had an intense affair with seven years ago—arrives in Banff, he’s inspired to reignite the spark they once had. Their mutual ardor slowly awakens Becki’s dormant, haunting memories.

New truths surface until Becki must at last confront her greatest fear. Remembering the past might mean a future without the man she loves.

This book was released in the first quarter of 2013 and is the first of a new series that takes readers into the Canadian Rockies where this search and rescue outfit attempt rescues that are almost impossible.  But this story with all its adventure and danger is really about two people who have been beaten down by occurrences that have upended their life.  For Marcus, the loss of a hand has seriously hampered his activity as a climber.  That’s to be expected.  But what hasn’t happened is a sense of acceptance of all that war has done to him and the loss of those he considered closer than brothers.  He made a choice to live even if it meant losing his hand.  His friend opted to die, but now Marcus is burdened with those memories and the frustration that seared him as his friend gave up.

Now Marcus is reunited with an old love, a woman he hasn’t seen for years and one he knew as a student climber preparing for a career as a  mountain rescue participant in Colorado.  Now she has suffered the loss of her own security, her sense of her vulnerability and the grieving over a climbing partner and lover has become overwhelming especially as she cannot remember how it all happened.   She has been cleared of all wrong doing but as snippets of that tragedy begin to reappear, her fears continue to grow.  Marcus is there as a support and they re-ignite their earlier affair.   Yet it just seems to become more and more traumatic as time goes on.

This is a story about strong people who are willing to train in order to bring others to safety.  They are willing to put themselves and their skills on the line, never becoming complacent about their training and abilities.  They know they have to be as sharp as a razor’s edge to meet the challenges.  Yet now Becky has been afflicted with an overwhelming fear and even though Marcus has agreed to re-train her and to help her over those panic attacks she is having now, just not remembering seems to keep her enslaved to her fear that somehow she caused the death of her partner and friend.

This is a story that will not give up its secrets easily.  The reader is going to have to slog through nearly to the end to get the complete story and it will be an emotional ride all the way through.  This first novel in the series sets up the scenario and relationship that is highlighted in the second book High Passion.  Yet each book is a stand alone read although I always think the reading experience become richer and more gratifying when all the books in a series are read in order.  This is a story that is also about the redemptive power of love and friendship, of the support that makes near miraculous recovery possible because of another’s belief in their friend.  As most of us know, there are times we all must rely on those important in our lives to believe “for” us when we are too stressed or tired or injured inwardly to believe in ourselves.  So it was with Marcus and Becky and it is the journey that they walk together that enriches them both and gives us such a good story.

I know this book has been around for several months, but I hope you will take the time to read a great story from a really terrific writer and enjoy it as much as I did.

I give it a rating of 4 out of 5

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.

This title is available from Berkley.  You can buy it here or here in e-format.