If I'm Found by Terri Blackstock
Series: If I Run #2
Published by Zondervan on March 21, 2017
Source: the publisher
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Is Dylan hunting Casey to prosecute her or protect her?

Casey Cox is still on the run, fleeing prosecution for a murder she didn’t commit. Dylan Roberts—her most relentless pursuer—is still on her trail, but his secret emails insist that he knows the truth and wants to help her. He’s let her escape before when he had her in his grasp, but trust doesn’t come easily.

As Casey works to collect evidence about the real murderers, she stumbles on another unbearable injustice: an abused child and a suicidal man who’s also been falsely accused. Casey risks her own safety to right this wrong and protect the little girl from her tormenters. But doing so is risky and just may result in her capture—and if she’s captured, she has no doubt she’ll be murdered before she ever steps foot in a jail.

In this riveting sequel to the USA Today bestseller If I Run, evil lurks, drawing Casey out of the shadows . . . but there is light shining in the darkness. Is Dylan a provision from the God who loves her, or another heartache yet to happen?

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review:

If I’m Found by Terri Blackstock is the second book in Blackstock’s suspense-thriller trilogy, after If I Run. Casey Cox is still on the run from the police, the prime suspect in a murder investigation. Dylan Roberts has been contracted by the police and by the victim’s parents to bring the killer in. Dylan is very-secretly working with Casey while making it look like he is hunting for her. The previous book ended with a shocker of a cliffhanger. If I’m Found begins just moments after If I Run ends.

I highly recommend that you read these books in order since this is a true series, not a companion series. Reading books out of order will cause spoilers for you and, in my opinion, downgrade your reading experience.

The continuation of Casey’s story was so good. I liked the first book, but if I were to compare the two: If I’m Found is so much better. Everything involving Casey has intensified and the plot has become much more suspenseful; this entire sequel is a page-turner. There really isn’t any downtime in these pages. There is so much more at stake the longer Casey remains on the run. She puts everyone that she comes into contact with at risk and unfortunately her family is also in danger.

If was much easier to lose myself in the story now that I fully know why Casey is so against turning herself over for questioning to clear her name in the murder. This book digs a little further into the exact “why” behind everything. Now that Dylan-the-PI has flipped and is secretly helping her gather information against the real murderers, the story is so much more compelling. The bad guys seem exponentially worse and all of the secrecy and urgency added to the story.

When I read the first book, I didn’t really understand why Casey did some of the things that she did. She acted similarly in this installment, but her reasoning is clear at this point: Casey feels a moral obligation to help people when she can—even when it puts her in danger of being discovered, even when it puts her safety at risk. On her run from the police, she has come into contact with several characters that are facing big, potentially life-altering crossroads, and Casey feels like she can and must help. I think what I was unable to understand in the first book was an attempt by the author to characterize Casey. I stand by how I felt about her actions and behaviors in the first book, but everything does make more sense now that I understand Casey’s motive for continually placing herself at risk. Also: unlike with the first book, I didn’t feel like I had to suspend my belief with this installment.

The ending of If I’m Found was (thankfully) not cliffhanger-y like the the previous installment and I am once-again thrilled that I actually have the final book, If I Live, on hand so I can go ahead and start it. I’m ready to find out how this series concludes and how everything ends for Casey and also for Dylan. I love the direction that Casey and Dylan are taking as a team working on this investigation together, and I love that Dylan has been so supportive and kind to Casey along the way – both as a peer/friend and also with giving her advice about God and praying for her when she has been uncertain or anxious. I’m ready to see how Casey’s name will be cleared and how the truth will come out about who really committed the murder and why.