Piper McKenna couldn’t be happier that her “prodigal” brother Reef returned to Yancy, Alaska after five years. But her excitement is short-lived when Reef appears at her house covered in blood. A fellow snowboarder friend of his has been killed. Yet despite the evidence, Reef swears that he is innocent – and Piper believes him.

Deputy Landon Grainger loves the McKennas like family, but he has to investigate the truth. Piper is frustrated with his need for facts over her simple faith that Reef is innocent. But the deputy knows that those closest to you have the power to deceive you the most. With the sheriff pushing for a quick conviction, a few leads that came through unexpectedly complicate the investigation. Pursuing the truth may now risk Landon’s career.

Piper wages her own search as the two of them head out into Canada’s rugged back country with a few unforeseen complications. Not only does their friendship seem to be turning into something bigger, but this case is becoming much more deadly with each and every step.

“Shattered” is the second novel in the Alaskan Courage Series written by Dani Pettrey. After I read the first in the series titled “Submerged,” I wasn’t totally sure how this one would be, whether it would follow the same characters or not, and whether it would fail to measure up to the first which I enjoyed a great deal. Thankfully this one is just as good as the first, and has even more suspense! The same characters are back, and even Reef, who was mentioned in the previous novel but wasn’t so much present. So it was awesome to have the long lost brother as one of the main characters in this follow-up.

One character who really drives me nuts is the sheriff – you’ll see what I mean when you read this novel and the previous. But even that isn’t really a negative point because he adds to the storyline a fair amount. I just really can’t think of anything bad to say about the book or the author, which is quite an awesome problem to have.

This one is a little longer than “Submerged” was, but that allows for more meat to the story, which is a benefit for this story since there is so much to tell. You for sure need to read this if you love mystery/suspense books. It had a little feel of the show CSI to it, which is another plus in my book. That said, go check this out right away!