Mission: Rescue Books In Order

Publication Order of Mission: Rescue Books

The Mission Rescue is a series of mystery thriller novels by the popular American author Shirleee McCoy, made famous for her series of inspirational and Christian romance titles. With about two titles released every year since 2014, the series of novels continues to gain more popularity. The first novel in the series of novels was the bestselling “Protective Instincts” that was published in 2014, and went on to become an international bestseller. Sticking to her themes of inspirational fiction and influenced by her childhood dreams of strong-willed heroines that are saved by even stronger heroes, the novels have a healthy dose of romance, and heroism. Even as the novels may be read as standalones with different story lines, characters, and settings, they are united in their portrayal of the theme of female characters in distress that have to rely on strong men. These men come in to rescue the women from their desperate situations ranging from stalkers, kidnapping, vengeance, and violent crime. One of the strongest themes in the novels is the inspirational aspect that combined with the love and romance seems to assert that love, and hope conquers all. The loss or potential loss of a loved one is a very strong element in the Mission Rescue series of novels. Even more important is the need for our heroines to have someone stronger than them to come in and save the day, when they are nearly in despair. Largely, the Mission: Rescue series of novels are about fearless heroes that would do anything to protect those who they love from the most dangerous of situations.

The lead protagonists in the Mission: Rescue series of novels nothing is more important than leaving the past behind and starting a new life. However, life is never so simple as they often find their past following them, complicating their lives even further when they become targets of violent men with vengeful motivations. On the other hand, the heroes in the series are often men that come out of the blue and promise to protect them from their assailants. All that the heroes ask of the heroines is total trust that they will protect them from any dangers. However, given that these men are total strangers, trusting them does not come very easily for the women. Nonetheless, over the course of the series, trust develops between the two albeit reluctantly as they men prove themselves fearless and willing to do anything in their power to protect the women in their lives. The heroines are strong-willed determined characters that even when they find themselves in dangerous situations, never let up in their quest to either escape or find out the truth. For instance, Lark of “Exit Strategy” is determined to get away from her captors even after being tied up, and drugged by her kidnappers. The heroes are an intriguing set of characters in their calculated, steady in control attitudes. Doing whatever it takes to find the women or children taken hostage, they are alpha males that will do what is expected and go beyond the initial mission of rescue, in empathizing with the victims and even advocating for them long after the mission is over.

Similar to Shirlee McCoy’s Heroes for Hire Series, the Mission: Rescue series while having some Christian values based elements, is more about the indomitable spirit of love and friendship in the midst of challenging situations. Staying true to her essence, she makes heroines that are central to the narrative in being iron-willed yet having that vulnerability that evokes the protective instinct in the hero. Even as the men acknowledge that the women are strong, they cannot help but step in to help get them out of situations that they would never have gotten out of by themselves. Reading more like suspense than romance novels, the novels offer a second chance at love for the women that have been battered by life to the point of exhaustion. They are heartbreaking stories that are touching to read. With the characters going through difficult situation such as losing loved ones or being kidnapped and kept hostage for days, the reader cannot help but emphasize. But what the novels really excel at is the mystery and romance aspect. In most of the narratives the big mystery is who the kidnappers are, and what are their intentions and motivations for taking the children or women hostage. Starting out at a fast pace and never letting up in their suspense and thrill coupled with a dose of romance, these novels may be one of the best reads for any thriller romance mystery fan.

“Protective Instincts” the first novel in the Mission: Rescue series of novels is an amazing novel full of action, suspense and a hint of romance. Raina had lost a son and a husband while out on a trip to Africa on an assignment with her boss. Out of the team that had gone to Africa, only two people survived – Rain and her boss. She is now looking to put the past behind her by building a new life back home. But the past will not let her be, as she keeps on stumbling upon her son’s old toys and it is not long before she is dodging a mysterious gunman’s bullets. Jackson and his team that work for Heart and had been responsible for rescuing them last time out, makes an unexpected reappearance offering his help. Jackson is one of those rescuers that would put life and limb at risk to make sure they reunited loved ones, brought people home, and prevent suffering. Now that Raina is back in the states, she has a new stalker and feels that this time it is personal. Jackson wants a second chance at love with Raina but first he needs to save her from the stalker.

“Her Christmas Guardian” is a clean quick easy read love inspired suspense with sprinkling of romance and faith. Boone Anderson, a former army ranger knows what danger looks like and immediately senses something wrong when he sees Scout Cramer and her little daughter out shopping while on holiday. His instincts prove correct as two cars appear from the end of the street race into the parking lot and kidnap the child. Having lost a child years earlier, Boone springs into action determined to reunited the missing child with its distraught mother. Haunted by his past, there is nothing better to salve his pain than rescuing a child of another. Meanwhile, Boone learns of a secret from Scout’s past that may just explain away the kidnapping. Scout must now work with Boone if she has any hope of getting back her daughter. It is a race of time to get track the kidnappers before they permanently cancel Christmas for all of them.

The Mission : Rescue series is an interesting book series based on the mystery, suspense, and thriller genres. It was developed by one of the reputed authors named Shirlee McCoy. In all, there are 7 books in this series, which were released between the years 2014 and 2016. Each of the books features a different set of central characters, which are shown being involved in various rescue missions. The debut book of this suspense-thriller series was published under the title of ‘Protective Instincts’. It was released by the Love Inspired publishers in the year 2014. Author Shirlee has developed the main characters of this book in the form of Raina Lowery, Jackson Miller, Chance, Stella, Boone, and Samuel. The story of the book opens up by showing Raina as a widow, who has lost all her family members. She too had a near death experience when she was held as a hostage while in Africa. Now, the only thing that Raina Lowery wants is to move ahead in life and forget her past. While she is on the course to recover from her grief, she comes across the toys of her son in the nearby woods. Following this, a gunman starts firing bullets at her. Raina runs for her life, but he gunman keeps following her wherever she goes. This sudden life-threatening experience after only a few months of her huge personal tragedy makes Raina believe she is going through a real life nightmare. But, it does not remain for long, as Jackson Miller arrives for her rescue. He is one of the members of the private rescue team known as Heart. And a few months back, he was involved in saving her from her hostage situation in Africa. This time, Jackson takes a personal interest in saving Raina as he has fallen in love with her.

As a hardened protector, he wants to a second chance for himself and Raina in accepting each other’s love. But to do so, he has to first save her. For grieving Raina, the sudden appearances of her son’s belongings and her hooded stalker determined to kill her appears to be a nightmare that she cannot forget. Thankfully, Jackson Miller and his members of the rescue team are there to protect her. Author Shirlee has done a great job in developing and executing the plot. Her style of writing this story seems to be simple and down to earth. The readers got connected to the story instantly, who found it flowing at a smooth pace. Even the overall characterization has been done in a beautiful manner by author Shirlee. Raina in particular, fills the readers’ hearts with a sense of loss, sadness, and sympathy. Her determination to stay strong in spite of losing everything is a thing to admire. Jackson Miller turns out to be a strong character who has the protective instincts. He too has faced several losses in his life. This is the reason why he can easily empathize with the loss of Raina Lowery. When he first came across her in Africa while being involved in a mission to rescue her from a hostage situation, he developed a soft corner for her in his heart. And with the passage of time, his love for her has only strengthened. When Jackson learns that Rain a is again in trouble and is being chased by a stalker, he becomes all set to help her once again. But this time, he takes a more personal interest. Author Shirlee’s slow and sensual development of the romance between Raina Lowery and Jackson Miller appears very fresh and is portrayed very beautifully too.

The second book published in the Mission: Rescue series by author Shirlee McCoy is titled as ‘Her Christmas Guardian’. In this book, the lead characters introduced include Boone Anderson, Scout Cramer, and Lucy Cramer. At the beginning of the story, Boone Anderson is introduced as a former military ranger. When he sees Scout Cramer on a holiday shopping along with her precious little daughter Lucy, he senses a danger. Suddenly, a couple of cars chase them down in the parking lot and kidnap the girl. This incident confirms the worst suspicions of Boone Anderson and immediately he is propelled into action by his professional instincts. As he himself has lost his infant daughter around a few years back and therefore, understands the pain of Scout Cramer very well. In order to not let her suffer for long, Boone vows reunite the beautiful Scout Cramer with her missing daughter. Soon, Scout comes to know that a secret from her past life has come up to haunt her. This makes her suspect that the kidnapping of her daughter might be linked to the secret. So, she teams up with her self appointed guardian, Boone Anderson, to save her beloved daughter and get her back. And Boone and Scout are required to get the things done as fast as they can in order to prevent the kidnappers from spoiling the Christmas for all of them.

Scout was afraid of someone for a very long time and did not want herself and her daughter land in any sort of trouble. So, she tries to remain unnoticed and keeps herself away from strangers. But, when she gets ambushed on a holiday and her daughter gets abducted, Scout realizes her mistake and thinks that she should have taken some action about it before. The character of Boone Anderson as an ex military man appears to a great one. He is described as an alpha by Shirlee McCoy. Being the sole witness of the kidnapping of Lucy Cramer from the parking lot, decides to help Scout by working with a few of his friends and finding Lucy. While trying to save Lucy from the kidnappers, Boone develops a feeling towards the gorgeous Scout Cramer. But, he vows to himself that he will not take any step further in his relationship with Scout until he has found and rescued her daughter. The overall story described in the book is filled with intriguing suspense with a heartfelt and inspiring theme. It can also be read as a pulse pounding and sweet holiday read. The readers enjoyed reading the intense situations and the heart warming plotline of the book. Even though the book is set on the theme of Christmas, it does not have much description in the story except the time of the year. The main emphasis of the story is laid on the suspense and thrill. There is also an element of romance, which was also appreciated by the readers along with the suspense. On the whole, the book appears to be a clean, easy to read, quick and love inspired suspense read.