[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Covenant Communications in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
Hadley had been looking forward to dinner out with her boyfriend, Spencer. But the evening didn’t go at all how she planned.
First it was dinner with Spencer’s boss and a couple work associates. Not very romantic. Then Spencer had gotten all weird. One minute he’s going on about how he wants to spend the rest of his life with Hadley. The next he says he never wants kids and if she disagrees, they should just break up right now. Hadley keeps asking herself, “What just happened?!”
As Hadley stands in the ladies room wiping off her dripping mascara, trying to figure out what to do next, the fire alarm goes off in the restaurant. Then a man barges into the bathroom and says they are evacuating the building. Before his statement really even registers for Hadley, he scoops her up and hustles her out of the building.
Just before it explodes.
FBI agent JD Byers has no idea who planted the bomb, why it was there, or how Hadley fits into his case, but he’s determined to keep her safe while they find answers to all of their questions.
Review
I didn’t realize the Mormon Church had their own publishing group until I stumbled across this book. This came up in my regular research, and I was so intrigued by the premise, I had to track it down to read. I am so glad I did! This was highly suspenseful and engaging.
It took me a little while to catch on to the different characters in the side stories – the ones aside from Hadley, JD, JD’s partner Noah, and Noah’s wife, Kelsey. I was also distracted by the undercover mission in Abolstan. I had a hard time focusing on the early chapters that focused on that mission, but as the connections between the various threads became more clear, I became more and more engaged.
The mystery and suspense in this is excellent. Once the story was really clipping along, I didn’t put it down until the end.
While this is published by the Mormon Church, there aren’t a ton of faith references in the story – several references to prayer, a special blessing is performed in a scene, and there are references to missions work. I had an awareness of the faith pieces, but they were not a major factor to the story. If you are a fan of suspense stories, check out this author. Her books routinely receive strong reviews.