‘After Strike’ by L.J. Sellers

Published by Spellbinder Press,
21 February 2023.
ISBN: 978-1-734534187-8 (PB)

 “Remi let out a harsh laugh.  Destructive impulses would be her footnote.”

We first encounter Remi Bartel during a counselling session as she tries to recover memories of her life before she was, literally, struck by lightning.  Piecing together her past is made more difficult because of the painful burns she sustained when the bolt of electricity passed through her body and, since the event, she has needed powerful medication to help her deal with the lingering agony.  Right now, her best therapy is provided by her pet dog, Tuck, and a victim support group for people who, like her, have suffered various kinds of electric shock.  Hope for the future seems possible when she meets and falls for one of the group’s members.  It turns out, though, that her association with the group exposes her to some very nasty people from her past life - people she no longer remembers, but who remember her all too well.

Oblivious to the danger she is in, recollections of Remi’s recent past start to return.  She discovers that she has worked in a children’s nursery in Wilsonville, Oregon, and has rented a property for the past two years or so.  What she can’t understand is why she pays her rent in cash, who and where her family are, and why she has so few contacts on her phone list?  Remi begins to sense that she has run away from something or someone but cannot unlock these memories.  She doesn’t realise how vulnerable she is until the past catches up with her and she begins to piece together a history that is infinitely more shocking than the lightning strike that nature inflicted.  By then, however, it is too late - she’s been kidnapped.

Time shifts and half-memories immerse the reader in Remi’s confusion and frustration.  As her past unfolds, it is difficult to know exactly what kind of character she really is.  When aspects of her life before Wilsonville emerge, Remi cannot be sure whether she is a victim or a villain, and neither can the reader.  Another interesting character, FBI Agent Jamie Dallas, is the law enforcement officer who begins to track Remi.  Dallas’s appearance provides a fascinating sub-plot that runs alongside Remi’s central plotline. 

After Strike is a well-written, beautifully constructed, and very modern story.  Prepare for some gritty scenes after Remi is abducted and then enjoy thrills and surprises galore as she pushes back against her captors.  I was gripped from beginning to end.
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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent

L.J. Sellers writes the bestselling Detective Jackson mystery/thriller series, a Readers Favorite award winner, as well as provocative standalone thrillers. Her novels have been highly praised by Mystery Scene, Crimespree, and RT Reviews, and her Jackson books are Kindle bestsellers as well as top-ranked novels. L.J., who resides in Eugene, Oregon where her novels are set, is also an award-winning journalist who earned the Grand Neal. When not plotting murders, she enjoys standup comedy, cycling, social networking, and attending mystery conferences. She’s also been known to jump out of airplanes.

Dot Marshall-Gent  worked in the emergency services for twenty years first as a police officer, then as a paramedic and finally as a fire control officer before graduating from King’s College, London as a teacher of English in her mid-forties.  She completed a M.A. in Special and Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education, London and now teaches part-time and writes mainly about educational issues.  Dot sings jazz and country music and plays guitar, banjo and piano as well as being addicted to reading mystery and crime fiction.