Blackwater Crossing (The Border Series) (Volume 1) is a suspense story but, more than that, it is a story of deep friendship and love. Lonnie is an almost finished rodeo star, Brian is his best friend. Together they fly in Brian’s plane from rodeo to rodeo. Clarissa was Lonnie’s wife, until the fatal night he was unfaithful. They both are still in love with each other, but just don’t know how to fix it, and if their marriage is fixable. Brian and Clarissa strongly believe in God; Lonnie is not so sure that he exists. The story is told by both Lonnie and Clarissa and we are privy to sharing their thoughts and feelings as they tell their story. When Brian is kidnapped and forced to fly drugs from Mexico, Lonnie sees no choice but to find him and bring him home, even if it means facing danger, threats and possibly death for both men. Clarissa, meanwhile, waits at home and suffers her own scary situations.

Blackwater Crossing was indeed full of suspense, intrigue and excitement. There was also love, strong friendships and emotional turmoil. I found it hard to put it down and neglected my chores because I just had to know what was happening next. David Griffith has created characters that were impossible not to like and not to cheer for. I am anxiously awaiting Volume 2 because I can’t wait to be part of the next adventure. I highly recommend Blackwater Crossing to all readers, young and old. Don’t pass this one up – it is a winner.

If life is a series of peaks and troughs, Lonnie Bowers has hit his nadir: a screwed up marriage, a once successful rodeo career in terminal decline, maxed out credit cards, and a bank statement in a striking shade of red. But, as everyone knows, when you are down the only way is up. Right? Regrettably, not in Lonnie’s case. His best friend Brian, a fellow rodeo rider with his own plane, is kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel eager to get its hands on an aircraft as well as someone who knows how to fly it. Given he has lost everything, there is nothing to lose by risking his life trying to rescue his friend. Lonnie - whose only knowledge of cross-border crime is a counter terrorism and foreign intelligence course he did at a small town Wyoming college - allows himself to be recruited by Stirling Associates, a clandestine semi-government agency looking to zero in on the cartel’s gang leader. Lonnie is soon to find that wrangling a Mexican drug lord is not your run-of-the-mill rodeo ride. David Griffiths’ debut novel, Blackwater Crossing, takes the reader seamlessly from the US rodeo circuit to the wilds of Canada, before tracking south to the Mexican Sierra Madre.

Blackwater Crossing gets off to a cracking start with an action sequence that immediately hooks the reader’s attention. It is told in the first person, interchanging between Lonnie and Clarissa. David Griffiths has used this device effectively to tell the story from two different angles. The adventure settles down after a while as we follow Lonnie’s path on the rodeo circuit and Clarissa’s anguish over her failed marriage and her relationship with God. Unlike Clarissa, Lonnie is an atheist or at least an agnostic. For me, these elements of the story tended to slacken the pace somewhat and could have been shortened, though they do add to each character's arc. That said, the action picks up again as we follow Lonnie’s exploits on behalf of Stirling Associates and his adventure laden search for Brian.

There are some classic lines along the way. One of my favourites was "I felt like an alligator trying to slither unobtrusively through a colony of penguins." In one of Lonnie’s pensive, self-deprecating moods, he ponders this: "What had I left to make the world a better place? Nothing. My time on earth had been little more than an ugly scribble of self-indulgence." I imagine this thought provoking perception would resonate with many readers. The book has been well researched; it’s a great adventure story and a riveting read.

In a rip roaring work by new author David Griffith, Blackwater Crossing: The Border Series Volume 1 is full of adventure, mayhem and thrills, but is also, at its heart, a story about a best friendship, and the lengths one man will go to save his closest friend. Protagonist Lonnie Bowers has lost a lot in his life of late. He's failing at his once successful rodeo career and an affair has wrecked his marriage. When his best friend, Brian, is kidnapped by a Mexican cartel, Lonnie is determined that he won't lose Brian too. He chases the trail to his friend deep into the Sierra Madres, but what he finds is that the challenges are greater than he could have ever imagined, and his life as well as the life of his best friend are at risk.

I found Blackwater Crossing to be a simply fantastic read. The book is full of mystery, intrigue and action, and is incredibly readable from start to finish. Readers who enjoy a faced paced thrill ride of a book will love Blackwater Crossing. I originally intended to read just a few chapters of this book before falling asleep. Well, several hours later, I found myself reading the last page, satisfied and tired at the same time. I can absolutely give this book a high recommendation, and suggest that any reader who picks it up should make sure that they have enough time to read it straight through, because they simply will not want to put it down!