"Think about it, pray about it, decide." - David Marshal
Description:
Evie Blackwell's reputation as a top investigator for the Illinois State Police has landed her an appointment to the governor's new Missing Persons Task Force. This elite investigative team is launched with plenty of public fanfare. The governor has made this initiative a high priority, so they will have to produce results--and quickly.
Evie and her new partner, David Marshal, are assigned to a pair of unrelated cases in suburban Chicago, and while both involve persons now missing for several years, the cases couldn't be more different. While Evie opens old wounds in a close-knit neighborhood to find a missing college student, David searches for a private investigator working for a high-powered client.
With a deep conviction that "justice for all" truly matters, Evie and David are unrelenting in their search for the truth. But Evie must also find answers to the questions that lie just beneath the surface in her personal life.
Evie and her new partner, David Marshal, are assigned to a pair of unrelated cases in suburban Chicago, and while both involve persons now missing for several years, the cases couldn't be more different. While Evie opens old wounds in a close-knit neighborhood to find a missing college student, David searches for a private investigator working for a high-powered client.
With a deep conviction that "justice for all" truly matters, Evie and David are unrelenting in their search for the truth. But Evie must also find answers to the questions that lie just beneath the surface in her personal life.
About the Author:
Dee Henderson is the author of numerous novels, including Traces of Guilt and the acclaimed O'Malley series. Her books have won or been nominated for several prestigious industry awards, such as the RITA Award, the Christy Award, and the ECPA Gold Medallion. Visit her at www.deehenderson.com.
My Review: 4.5 stars!
I should probably preface this review with the confession that I am a huge fan of Dee Henderson’s and have yet to find a book of her’s that I don’t love, so this might be slightly biased. Okay, with that behind us, I have to say that I so enjoyed this book! It is the second in her “Evie Blackwell Cold Case” series and was excellent! You can read it as a standalone, but I highly recommend the first book as well! This one picks up about a month after the first one ends and captures the formation of the Missing Person’s Task Force and their first cases. I enjoyed diving into this story and watching the mystery unravel as they plotted theories and chased leads. I found myself debating “whodunit” even after laying the book down and I couldn’t wait to scoop it back up and escape into Lieutenant Evie Blackwell’s world for a few more hours.
Ms. Henderson’s writing is phenomenal, as always! I’ve never figured out how to fully describe it, but something about her writing draws me in immediately and doesn’t let go. I finish one of her books and feel as though the characters have become dear friends that I can’t wait to revisit during my next spare moment. I love how she’s including characters from past books, like Ann and Paul Falcon, as well as a few other familiar names, and at the same time introducing me to new people that I can’t resist loving. Like Evie’s new partner on the task force, David Marshal. If he wasn’t already taken . . . . And even some of the suspects were people I found myself really liking and hoping they weren’t guilty. I have to admit that the only person that I didn’t quite fall in love with was Evie’s guy, Rob Turney. I really missed Gabriel Thane from “Traces of Guilt” and wanted him to come back.
One of the differences I’m noticing with this new series is how much of the story is dedicated to the mystery at hand. There isn’t much romance, though I don’t find that to be a bad thing, just different. And I do love the mystery! Evie and David both have unique ways of working a cold case and I enjoyed walking through the cases with them. I found myself debating Evie’s theories with her and making up some of my own, or wishing I could join David on his interviews and try to help him solve the case. I also enjoyed all of the technical details and the extra aspects of the investigation. It may seem like too much information for some, but I mostly found it rather fascinating, seeing how each of their styles brought new thing to light, or rearranged the facts for various theories. The story occasionally reminded me of an episode of Criminal Minds or something similar. I wasn’t even close to guessing “whodunit” and couldn’t anticipate the outcome, something that I admittedly love! I appreciate a book that can keep me on my toes and flipping pages as quickly as I can, though I do have to admit that I found the story a little dark at times and had to put it down and do something else for a bit, before being able to dive back into it.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mysteries that keep you guessing!
There's a quote that I really want to share, but it's long, so I decided to add it down here, where it can take up as much space as need-be without looking strange. So, are you ready for one of my favorite quotes from this book?
"Sometimes love comes easily, and sometimes it's the most challenging decision a person ever makes. That reality doesn't make one way right and the other wrong, it just is. The love underlying marriage is more than an emotion, more than a set of facts adding up to a decision. It's the choice that this is the person I'm going to stay with for the rest of my life. It's something you have to make with your head and your heart . . . . It's a decision with consequences." David Marshal
As someone who is a 20-something and often gets questions about her dating life and if she's planning to marry, this observation hit home and I had to stop and read it a couple times before I could move on with the story. I love the lines/paragraphs/pages like this in Dee's books. The ones that are so simple, yet very profound at the same time.
Anyway, I'll stop blathering, now. As always, links are below if you'd like to learn more about this book! I hope your day is wonderful! :)
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