The Record Keeper by Charles Martin ~ Book Review

The last installment in the Murphy Shepard series finds Murphy recovering from his last rescue mission which almost killed him.  He's questioning his continuing his involvement in helping to rescue girls caught and captured in the slave trade as now he just wants to be with his wife and daughter.  But when his mentor and friend, Bones, gets taken by the very person who is organizing these slave trade rings all around the world, Murphy knows he must get back into it.  With no clues whatsoever, finding Bones is going to challenge Murphy physically and mentally like he's never been challenged before.  But Murphy's life long mantra of "Love always shows up" drives him on and he'll stop at nothing to find his friend.  

As per usual, Charles Martin writes a story that involves all the reader's emotions.  In this dive into Bone's backstory there is lots of action and suspense while Martin delves even more in the slave trade globally.  The story pits extreme good and extreme evil against each other even as family ties are tested.  Though a heart rending story of leaving the flock to go find the one lost, I do feel the need to give a warning of triggers.  There is lots of violence, and of course the series revolves around the slave trade and sexual abuse.  Some parts of the story caused me to have to put it down for a time before I resumed they were so heartbreaking and hard to read.  It is intense but well told.  I must say though, that due to a few parts that were too much of a character narrating his own story that I felt, though imperative to the story, did drag a bit for me, I did give it a 1/2 point down from a 10 rating.  But an excellent series that broke my heart while bringing awareness to the horrendous slave trade going on in the world today.  The series is best read as a whole as each book builds upon the one before.

I rated it a 9.5/10

Book Challenge Goals Met:  Started the book for the Read Your Shelves Challenge August self made Prompt of "A book that has a summer vibe" and finished September's self made prompt of "4 books from my newest purchases and 4 from my oldest purchases".  

The Murphy Shepard Series

Book 1 review The Water Keeper

Book 2 review The Letter Keeper