Survivor of the Clan by Jennifer Ott

Survivor of the Clan

By:  Jennifer Ott

Publish Date:  September 10, 2016

Published By:  Author

Genre:  Suspense, Thriller, Futuristic, Science, International

Pages:  242 Kindle Edition

Source:  Jennifer Ott

A roar of motorcycles disturbs a peaceful congregation leaving church on an Easter Sunday outside Edinburgh Scotland. One of the motorcyclists assassinates geneticist Dr. Kyle Locke, while another abducts his daughter, Shelby Locke witnesses her entire life taken from her in one instant. When clues arise that lead to Odessa, Ukraine, it is Shelby who steps up the search to find her daughter and her husband’s killer.

Arriving in Odessa offers more questions than answers. Confronted with the suspects, Shelby must face her own past, as a child, and that of a mysterious woman whom she has recollections of a precarious time in the near past.
In order to save herself and her daughter, she must find the courage and compassion to face issues that plague mankind and its future, only then can Shelby and Amelia be free.

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Welcome to my review of another of Jennifer Ott’s books, Survivor of the Clan!

Check out my featured post to the right for my previous review for Desperate Moon, one of the author’s previous books and foray into all things Euro vampire and just well-rounded story telling.

Survivor of the Clan is her latest publication where she takes on our current human condition from an ancestral DNA perspective, and I’ve never read of a MC (Shelby Locke) profession of being a doll maker so for me these are different themes than I usually read about. This also brings in more than one layer to the meaning of the word ‘clan.’

So through Shelby’s brave journey to find her abducted daughter, Ott plumbs interesting concepts such as whether our human DNA carries memories from our ancestors and even bygone emotional responses to our environment that may not necessarily be beneficial to us anymore as times have changed, a lot! I also really like that Shelby’s story is very current with stuff that’s happening in our world right now such as the take that human life is being detrimentally orchestrated by powerful global companies.

Even though there’s a scientific basis to the story, Ott’s writing has a warm, almost homey feel often focusing on the food and cultural traditions of the Ukraine and the importance of family that ultimately lure Shelby away from what she believes to be her  best interests. The need to know about our family roots is ever a strong one for us all, good and/or bad.

Survivor of the Clan is also a story about Shelby’s own search to find her origins as she is an adoptee. This is really the primary plot that intertwines with her finding her kidnapped daughter who has been taken to the Ukraine where Shelby finds her own mysterious and somewhat frightening birth roots. During this journey, she is led down some terrifying and unspeakable paths.

Steady pacing and new revelations keep the story moving and the reader engaged, and the ending reveals some very unexpected surprises that Shelby learns on her path to discovering her origins. I really liked how the ending isn’t like a perfect cut and dry, comes with some violence, but we are left with upbeat, hopeful feelings for Shelby.

Fav quote:  “When you share eyes, you share a soul.” At 6.3/488

Some minor typos.

If you like to savour stories that delve into the very substructure of human make up and make you think about where your own emotions and thoughts are coming from, be sure to pick up Survivor of the Clan, an interesting and thought-provoking read that presents the reader with fascinating possibilities. 4.3 stars!

You will find Jennifer Ott on the internet at these links:

Amazon Purchase

Author Website | Goodreads | Twitter