Untraceable by S.R. Johannes

Grace has lived in the Smokies all her life, patrolling with her forest ranger father who taught her about wildlife, tracking, and wilderness survival.

When her dad goes missing on a routine patrol, Grace refuses to believe he’s dead and fights the town authorities, tribal officials, and nature to find him.

One day, while out tracking clues, Grace is rescued from danger by Mo, a hot guy with an intoxicating accent and a secret. As her feelings between him and her ex-boyfriend get muddled, Grace travels deep into the wilderness to escape and find her father.
Along the way, Grace learns terrible secrets that sever relationships and lives. Soon she’s enmeshed in a web of conspiracy, deception, and murder. And it’s going to take a lot more than a compass and a motorcycle (named Lucifer) for this kick-butting heroine to save everything she loves.

I had been eyeing Untraceable for awhile. Look at the cover, it’s lovely in a subtle sort of way. When the author emailed me about reviewing it, I immediately jumped on the chance and managed to fit it in right away.

Grace’s father has been missing for other 3 months and she’s convinced he’s still alive, despite everyone around her saying he isn’t. She knows that he knows the mountains so well that something is obviously wrong. To the point of obsession and at the risk of alienating everyone around her, she keeps looking for him.

Grace is such a strong-willed character, I hope to think that in the same situations I would be as determined to believe that my loved one was still alive out there somewhere. And then there is Mo – hot with an English/Australian accent. YUM. There is a bit of mystery surrounding him and that adds to make it even more fun.

The entire premise had me fascinated, but horrified. As more and more is discovered though about just what is happening in the Smokies, I found myself gasping during the intense scenes. And there are some pretty intense scenes. Untraceable covers some issues that I am planning on looking into further as an animal lover and I’m sure it’ll stick with me for a long time to come.

I need the second book immediately. The ending has a bit of a cliffhanger that has me really curious to see where Johannes takes the series.