First Chapter Review: An Unfolding Trap by Jo A. Hiestand (Giveaway)

Author Jo A. Hiestand is touring with her British mystery, An Unfolding Trap. 

BLURB: Since his infancy, Michael McLaren has been the target of his paternal grandfather’s anger. So when the patriarch sends an invitation to heal the rift, McLaren travels to Scotland, eager to meet and finally end the feud. But the welcome never happens. If Grandfather hadn’t invited him, who had? And why?

In Edinburgh, a man standing beside McLaren in a bus queue is killed in a hit-and-run accident. After an attack leaves McLaren for dead on a wintry moor, he’s convinced someone from his past is trying to murder him.

As McLaren trails the hit-and-run driver from the medieval ‘underground city’ of Edinburgh to the Boar’s Rock the MacLaren Clan’s ancestral meeting place the assaults intensify, and he’s plunged into a very personal hunt for a World War II treasure. The puzzle is fascinating; he just has to stay alive to solve it.

COVER: What a lovely cover. The setting is bound to lend itself to beautiful photos, but the dark colors contrast nicely against the castle bricks and the fog on the water reminds me of the confusion McLaren must feel upon learning he's been duped into going to Scotland for some reason.

FIRST CHAPTER: Intriguing to say the least. We first meet McLaren as he has awoken from a dream. Quickly the author moves us to the conflict: McLaren discovering that his grandfather hadn't really invited him to Edinburgh.

While I would prefer the opening chapter start with the second paragraph--the first one seems unnecessary and shares with the reader something the main character doesn't know (which I personally don't care for)--the first chapter still draws me in hook, line and sinker. It's great that the reader gets a chance to meet McLaren first. This allows her to learn a tiny bit about his family so that the senses are heightened when he meets his grandfather. The author goes about quickly defining not only the conflict, but the mystery of who could have invited McLaren to Edinburgh and why.

Definitely a book I would keep reading.

File Size: 627 KB
Print Length: 217 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press, Inc (March 9, 2016)
Publication Date: March 9, 2016
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B01BBBZTSE

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/635131.Jo_A_Hiestand

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Jo-A.-Hiestand/e/B0057SO7VI

I received chapter one of this book from the author through Goddess Fish Promotions. This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way.

Jo A Hiestand will be awarding a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a silver Celtic design pendant on a silver necklace and a CD of the song featured in the book - international shipping to a randomly drawn host.

a Rafflecopter giveaway