Janice writes suspense novels designed to keep readers engrossed and leave them inspired. Lethal Target follows Crisis Shot in her latest series. Janice also authored the Cold Case Justice series—Drawing Fire, Burning Proof, and Catching Heat—the Pacific Coast Justice series—Accused, Abducted, and Avenged—and the Brinna Caruso novels, Critical Pursuit and Visible Threat.
Visit Janice’s website at www.janicecantore.com and connect with her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/JaniceCantore.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
In the opening scenes of Lethal Target, Chief Tess O’Rourke is called to a death investigation, possibly caused by a drug overdose. Some residents of Rogue’s Hollow are pointing fingers at the legal pot farms in her jurisdiction, claiming, “One drug leads to another.” Where do you stand on this issue? Are there any benefits of marijuana or a legal opioid painkiller that might outweigh the drugs’ negative associations or abuse?
When Oliver Macpherson calls Tess a dragon slayer, she says she wishes she could take away the desire for drugs, and Oliver replies, “Only a heart change can take that away.” Do you agree with his statement, or is there more to the issue than a heart change? Where do you start when you want to conquer addictions in your life?
How did you feel when you learned that Tess is reluctant to go deeper in her relationship with Steve Logan? Is Tess being prudent or too cautious in following rule #12 (“Keep work professional, and personal life, personal”)? What do you think about her realization that she feels more comfortable around Oliver than around Steve?
A familiar face from Tess’s past shows up in Rogue’s Hollow to stir up trouble. How does she handle Hector Connor-Ruiz’s presence in town? What could she have done better?
Oliver thinks of Tess as a warrior for justice but notes that she seems motivated by the belief “I need to do this because God won’t.” Do you believe there are situations God removes himself from? Why might it appear as if he has done so? Are there circumstances in your life or the lives of those around you that seem unjust or as if God is uncaring? What might you do in those cases?
After about a year of living in Rogue’s Hollow, Tess begins to truly feel at home. What gives her that sense of peace? How long does it take you to fully settle into a new place? How do you know when you’re home?
Oliver compares Tess—the law—to his wife, Anna, who embodied grace. When might one situation call for more of a certain trait than the other? Do you consider yourself to be more like Tess or Anna? Or do you walk the line between the two characteristics like Oliver?
In his grief, Drake Harper lashes out at Tess, berating her for failing to do her job. What makes his outbursts understandable? Can you relate to him? How does Tess handle this? Anger is sometimes considered a secondary emotion, a safer outward expression of what a person might truly be feeling. What underlying fears or emotions or physical conditions might be masked with anger?
When trouble is quite literally dropped on Tess’s doorstep, how does she respond in that moment? What about earlier, when her ability to perform her duties is called into question by some of the townspeople? And later, when Logan calls her to ask about her interactions with Hector?
After finding it in a box filled with long-forgotten items, why does Tess carry her dad’s courage card around, though it offers her little comfort? How can a simple reminder, a promise of truth, offer encouragement, even when we least expect it? What can you do today to extend a simple comfort to someone?
Tilly Dover has overcome a challenging past and seems to be in a good place, but her brother has a hard time believing she will remain drug-free. Is he right to keep his distance and protect his family, or should he extend grace time and again? Are some people lost causes, or should we always hold out hope?
Oliver recognizes how easy it is to get stuck in the past, caught by the unanswerable question of “why.” What has he done to set aside the search for an answer and move forward? What does Tess need to do? Have you ever experienced a time when you felt caught up in looking for an answer to “why”? How are you able to move forward?
Don Cherry shares a bit about his colorful past with Oliver, who eventually tells the ex-con, “You’re asking me to prove something you already know to be true.” What does Oliver tell Don to do? Why is getting your feet wet so difficult sometimes? What does fully humbling yourself before God look like to you?
Toward the end of Lethal Target, Tess spends time reading her father’s Bible, finding comfort in the notes he wrote in the margins. How do you imagine her story playing out?
Turn the page for an excerpt from Crisis Shot, the thrilling first book in the Line of Duty series.
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1
LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA
FEBRUARY
“999! 999—” Click. The voice cut off.
Commander Tess O’Rourke was halfway to the station when the emergency call exploded from the radio. The frantic transmission punched like a physical blow. A triple 9—officer needs help—was only used when an officer was in the direst emergency.
Adrenaline blasted all the cobwebs from Tess’s brain. Dispatch identified the unit as 2-Adam-9, JT Barnes, but had no luck getting the officer back on the air.
She was early, hadn’t been able to sleep. Seven months since Paul left and she still wasn’t used to sleeping alone. After a fitful four-hour nap on the recliner in the living room, she’d given up, showered, and decided to head into work early in predawn darkness, at the same time all hell broke loose.
Tess tried to get on the radio to advise that she was practically on top of the call and would assist, but the click and static of too many units vying for airtime kept her from it. Pressing the accelerator, Tess steered toward Barnes’s last known location.
A flashing police light bar illuminating the darkness just off Stearns caught her eye. She turned toward the lights onto a side street, and a jolt of fear bit hard at the sight of a black-and-white stopped in the middle of the street, driver’s door open and no officer beside it. It was an area near the college, dense with apartment buildings and condos, cars lining both sides of the street.
She screeched to a stop and jammed her car into park as the dispatcher wrestled to get order back on the air.
Tess keyed her mike. Voice tight, eyes scanning. “Edward-7 is on scene, will advise” was her terse remark to the dispatcher.
She drew her service weapon and bolted from her unmarked car, cold air causing an involuntary inhale. Tess was dressed in a long-sleeved uniform but was acutely aware that she was minus a vest and a handheld radio. As commander of the East Patrol Division in Long Beach, her duties were administrative. Though in uniform, she wore only a belt holster, not a regular patrol Sam Browne. It had been six years since she worked a patrol beat as a sergeant in full uniform.
But one of her officers, a good one, was in trouble, and Tess was not wired to do nothing.
“JT?” she called out, breath hanging in the frigid air as her gaze swept first the area illuminated by yellow streetlights and then the empty car.
The only sounds she heard were the gentle rumble of the patrol car engine and the mechanical clicking of the light bar as it cycled through its flashes.
A spot of white in front of the car caught her eye and she jogged toward it. Illuminated by headlights were field interview cards scattered in front of the patrol unit as if JT had been interviewing someone and was interrupted, dropping the index cards.
Someone took off running.
She followed the line of cards between two parked cars and up on the sidewalk, where the trail ended, and then heard faint voices echoing from the alley behind an apartment building. Sprinting toward the noise across grass wet with dew, she rounded a darkened corner and saw three figures in a semicircle, a fourth kneeling on the ground next to a prone figure.
“Go on, cap him, dawg! Get the gat and cap him!”
Anger, fear, revulsion all swept through her like a gust of a hot Santa Ana wind. Tess instantly assessed what was happening: the black boots and dark wool uniform pants told her Barnes was on the ground.
“Police! Get away from him!” She rushed headlong toward the group, gun raised.
In a flood of cursing, the three standing figures bolted and ran, footfalls echoing in the alley. The fourth, a hoodie partially obscuring his face, looked her way but didn’t stop what he was doing.
He was trying to wrench the gun from Barnes’s holster.
Was Barnes dead? The question burned through Tess, hot and frightening.
“Move away! Move away now!” Tess advanced and was ignored.
Sirens sounded loud and Tess knew help was close. But the next instant changed everything. The figure gave up on the gun and threw himself across the prone officer, grabbing for something else. He turned toward Tess and pointed.
She fired.
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