summer of the midnight sun by tracie peterson

He would hang for his crimes! Jacob had been injured and unable to travel. She was determined to catch and take the murderous, thieving Jayce Kincaid to Seattle, where the authorities there agreed to assist in capturing him. Why was he here now? Could her heart really take this? Can she bring herself to forgive him and not be bitter? Helaina worked for the Pinkertons. It had been a decade since she had seen him. Jayce was her brother’s best friend, years ago, who had broken her heart. When she finally saw his bundled up form coming through the fog, she ran and hugged him, shocked when she realized it was not her brother. She tried to trust God to protect him, but supplies were almost gone. It was not unusual for him to be gone a few days at a time hunting and for supplies. Orphaned in their teen years, they swore to always care for each other. They were among the healthiest and best trained in the area. Jacob was also well known for his “sled dogs”. Non-fans of Christian fiction will be bothered by the heavy religious content, but Peterson’s many admirers will love the book, and the cliffhanger ending will have them coming back for more.Leah and her brother, Jacob, I ran a small “trade” store in a small community in Alaska close to Nome. But I found the novel slow-paced, with a rather cheerless tone and a hoary old plot device as part of the denouement.

The exotic, slightly post-Gold Rush Alaskan setting was interesting, as was the idea of a female Pinkerton agent. A crime victim herself, Helaina insists Jayce must go to Seattle to face justice. Leah can’t believe he is a criminal, and Jacob’s Biblical parables about showing mercy have no effect. There they are confronted by Helaina Beecham, a Pinkerton agent come to arrest Jayce, who is wanted for theft and murder. When Jayce is attacked and injured by dogs, Leah and Jacob must take him to Nome for medical treatment. Now Jayce reappears, to see Jacob about purchasing sled dogs, and Leah has confused feelings about him.

Ten years ago she declared her love to Jayce Kincaid and was rejected. Leah Barringer lives with her brother, Jacob, in a remote part of the territory, running a trading post. Peterson begins her Alaskan Quest series with this volume, set in 1915.

Summer of the midnight sun by tracie peterson