Final Key

Hidden Keys #24

by Jacie Middlemann

WHAT SECRET HAS SIMON BEEN KEEPING?Hiding is no longer acceptable…she needed answers…but answers alone might not be enough…and they could prove deadly…there were no more secrets…they could be deadly too…Mick Johnson might be dead but his killer is unknown and the clues leading to them are non-existent. Completely non-existent…which according to Jackson never ever happens…then he finds one but how does he tell Simon…But Elijah Sullivan, the father she adored all her life left clues…she just has to unravel them even as she comes to terms with her feelings about Harper…and his for her.It’s the middle of the twenty-third century and while there have been staggering technological and environmental advances, human nature is still very much the same as it has always been. One woman unexpectedly finds herself thrust into the middle of a long simmering struggle between power, greed, and an overwhelming effort to keep long hidden secrets buried.Hidden Keys is a series of short stories, continues Ava’s quest for answers for why Mick Johnson wanted her dead and the meaning of the handful of keys left to her by Elijah Sullivan. Each story reveals key pieces of information as Ava Sullivan and Harper Riley search for answers including the identity of a group of individuals who continue to dodge her every step…and keep a constant eye over their shoulders after surviving the first attempt on her life only days after her father’s death.Luckily, Ava isn’t on her own. Harper is a childhood friend that she hasn’t seen in years, but just as when they were kids, he is proving again that he can be trusted even as they just barely avoid one near miss after another. But this isn’t the first time that Harper Riley has had to dodge bullets or protect himself from oncoming fire. Now though, the gun in his hand is to protect Ava.The Hidden Keys Short Story series is filled with long hidden secrets, strong characters, and a growing quest for justice. If you enjoy Short Reads…quick to read short stories, slightly entangled and complicated relationships, and a puzzling mystery that needs to be unraveled…Hidden Keys may be the series for you.The Hidden Keys short story series is best read in sequence. Final Key is the finale of the series.Hidden Keys LegacySurviving the NightFirst CluesCryptic TruthsFalse CipherLast MissiveObscure PivotShadowed CaveatVeiled EnemyCloaked SecretsScattered LiesHinged TenureShrouded PuzzleClouded HeightsHidden DirectiveMasked ScrutinyBlinded BirthrightElusive PursuitPlausible IllusionDeceptive QuestHollow EnigmaDeflected DiversionUnbidden DeceptionFeigned DominionFinal Key

25 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 28, 2022

About the author

I fell in love with books when I was in the 4th grade and my free period was spent volunteering in the school library. I read every Nancy Drew book there was to check out, discovered collections of myths and fairy tales from around the world, Louisa May Alcott and C.S. Lewis, and decided I wanted my own library. By the end of that summer with the supplies our school librarian graciously provided me my books had due date slips, card pockets, book cards, and black electrical tape on the spine with the first three letters of the author's last name. I still have most of those books.
In the hope she could get me involved in something else my mother gave me a camera. Right around the same time my father told me I could use his typewriter when he wasn't using it. The typewriter won. We shared his typewriter but I also filled notebooks with stories scribbled before school, after school, and often when I was supposed to be asleep. Thanks to my mother, who saved just about every single one of those notebooks, I still have them as well.
Several years ago my father gave me his typewriter…the same one we shared all those summers ago. Every time I look at it I remember the young 4th grade girl who was quietly encouraged to do what she loved…and years later reminded with a box filled with notebooks crammed full of handwritten stories and dreams.
And it’s still not unheard of that I stay up way later than I should with a good book that’s just impossible to put down.

Reviews

[Richard Goodrum · Rating 3 out of 5]

An acceptable wrap-up to the series. Like most of the series, this episode has no action. It simply brings together the details which might have escaped attention earlier. But not quite everything. Overall, an underwhelming conclusion.

Easy-to-read. Entertaining. Happily Ever After. Romantic. Unpredictable. Wonderful characters.