Charles Martin examines the real power of selfless love by fusing intense emotion with suspenseful moments.
When all hope is gone, he appears.
Finding victims of human trafficking—people no one else could find—has become Murphy Shepherd's vocation. His purpose in life is to assist others in achieving freedom.
The horror, however, then comes too close to home.
Murphy finds himself rethinking everything he has always believed to be true when his new wife, her kid, and two other adolescent girls are taken. He doesn't know how to locate the people he loves since there are more dead ends than leads.
When everything is taken away, what's left is love.
Murphy is prepared to give his last breath in an attempt to bring them home, even though Hope feels lost.
An early look from Charlie Martin
"I'm not sure how he does what he does. I say the same thing after every book, which makes it seem rhetorical at this point. I frequently read the final page many times to prolong the conclusion before flipping it over and asking myself, "How the h-e-double-hockey-stick did he just pull that off?" aloud. This book is not an anomaly. Without a doubt, it's an incredible read. It fulfills every expectation you have for a sequel—and then some.
Murphy Shepherd, a.k.a. David Bishop, is the one who fires first and asks questions afterward. I mean, come on. He has many secret identities, travels in private aircraft, has various storage units with motorbikes, walls full of well-worn pistols, rifles, and shotguns, and he even has a storage facility in south Florida with a Hell's Bay boat. He makes Jason Bourne seem inexperienced at taking out bad men and Batman's gadgets and weaponry seem ridiculous. Furthermore, the man is a PRIEST... and he utilizes his priestly rank to enter and exit some quite dubious situations (spoiler warning), eliminating a fair number of villains while donning his white robes in the process (spoiler alert #2). Unfortunately, those robes aren't bulletproof (spoiler alert #3). My fault. I'll give up.) Not only that, but he has the best dog in the world. Once again, the Shepherd/Gunnar combination is unstoppable.
"Let's be honest, despite all of his hidden identities and butting people, the guy is a MAD gamer. For those who are unaware, it implies that the guy is completely attractive to women—and not always on purpose. And if I can get serious for a minute, The Letter Keeper takes the character development between Bishop and his girls to the next level. By the end, you’re so invested and knitted into their stories and hearts, you’re left scratching your head thinking, ‘Are we sure this is fiction? This cannot possibly be made up.
We, the readers, have been waiting for this moment for a long time. The way he/Dad/Charles guides us through the Bishop, Summer, and Angel plot is perfect. It's both thrilling and exhilarating, as well as sincere, profound, and beautiful. Dad/Charles has had a couple of really phenomenal characters break the pages in the last 20+ years of his writing—Matthew Rising, Sunday, Ella Rain (love that lady), Tyler Steele . . . You know them, we adore them all, but these may be my favorites: Bishop, Summer, Angel, Casey, Clay, Bones, and yes, even Gunnar. Speaking of Bones, for those who were like me wondering who the heck this guy is in the first book, well, let’s just say there’s more to Bones than meets the eye.
“Y’all better get ready. Like I said last time, clear your schedule. When this book comes out, say you got a scratchy throat or something, muscle aches, play the COVID scare card for a day and say you need to quarantine. Then read this book . . . front to back. There will be more sweaty palms, fist pumps, tears, and laughter than the first one. I promise.
“And yes . . . in case you’re wondering . . . by the time this book ends, there’s not much room left on his back for more names. But something tells me that’s not going to stop Bishop.”
Praise for The Letter Keeper:
“Very few contemporary novelists have found acclaim within mainstream and evangelical markets, but Charles Martin is among them. His latest novel is both a stand-alone story and a sequel to his highly-praised The Water Keeper. It hinges on the Scriptural message of forsaking the found in order to seek the lost, a theme Martin brings to poetic and brilliant life. A man broken by events beyond his control accepts the challenge to walk dark ways in order to bring the lost and helpless home, but he comes close to losing himself in the process. Despite the hardship and heartache, Martin’s story shines with the light of eternal hope.” —Davis Bunn, writing for Christianity Today
Full-length novel
One of the Murphy Shepherd novels:
Book One: The Water Keeper
Book Two: The Letter Keeper
Book Three: Available June 2022!
Includes discussion questions for book clubs
Also by Charles Martin: The Mountain Between Us, Send Down the Rain, Long Way Gone, When Crickets Cry