Through the Valley of the Shadow

Marcy James' simple, easy life is changed after she is attacked, nearly raped and life threatened one night after a bizarre meeting with the wife of a former lover. The attackers escape police and Marcy knows she is being stalked by one of her attackers. Paul Palato makes a major career decision encouraged by the mayor of Melo. But this decision may have consequences that threaten his professional, spiritual and personal life. He becomes the public defender for one of Marcy James' attackers. Marcy is also his best friend, Josh Crockett's lover. Josh Crockett, psychologist leaves his home and practice in Florida to begin a new life in Melo, Indiana where he met and fell in love with beautiful Marcy James. But now, she is having doubts about their relationship. The two need to talk, but not until Marcy puts the attack and its aftermath behind her. He must help her cope while at the same time counsel one of her attackers as a favor for his best friend Paul Palato. Revenge, lust, rage, jealousy, love scenes plot the course for this action-packed adventure romance novel that tries to portray the way people deal with the concepts of love and justice ideally for others and realistically when it affects us personally. This novel uses real life human responses to physical attack, distrust and doubt to provide the reader with a thought for whether a Christian can show mercy and still find justice and what might happen when we forgive rather than condemn another and whether we really know and accept the truth. Through the Valley of the Shadow is the second in a series by Doug Knight following the first novel A River Bend. Yet, at the same time, using many of the characters in the first, telling a tale that can stand alone on its own. Although not blatantly Christian, Judaeo-Christian values season some of the characters' thinking and actions in contrast with their human thought and responses to the same issues and the inner conflict this produces in us.