The mystery in this story was really good. The reason for giving only three stars is because the book hit a slow patch when drugs and teen pregnancy became the central focus. Neither were even hinted at on the back-cover copy, so they came as quite a shock to me, and not a pleasant one. (Another reason was the inclusion of expletives, inappropriate for the Christian genre.)
I wasn’t sure about the love triangle that popped up late in the story, but I like the way the book ended. It made me look forward to the next book, even though I am not a fan of one of the two men attempting to get Bree’s attention. I’m interested to see what direction the next book will take, as well as what mystery will befall Rock Harbor.
The climax, to me, was well thought out and high on the tension. I rather enjoyed it and stayed up late to finish this one off.
I wish Ms. Coble would write cleaner books, because her style is often enjoyable. The inclusion of expletives always hampers my enjoyment of her stories, as they pull me away from the story line so I can guard my mind from the naughty words.
Content:
teen pregnancy
drugs & teen drug usage
alcohol
tobacco products
expletives
derogatory term
teen smoking & drinking
Side note: I found one factual error that included an inconsistency within the story. It was stated that "hair does not decompose," but it does, though at a different rate than the rest of the body. The rate fluctuates depending upon the materials that surround the hair. The inconsistency that disproved the "fact" within the book was that one skeleton was found with no hair while a different piece of evidence was found with hair. Both had been "dead" for the same amount of time and in similar circumstances, so I found it improbable that such a stark difference would be realistic. This did not weigh on my rating, though it did pull me out of the story so I could research to see whether my disbelief of the statement was correct.
I was not compensated for my honest review.