When Francesca discovers a dead body and an autistic Amish boy in her front yard, she turns to her late husband’s friend Tanner, an FBI agent, to find out what’s going on and keep them both safe.
I discovered later that this is the latest book in a long series of Amish romantic suspense novels centered in the same region, but my lack of familiarity with prior books wasn’t an issue – this works well as a standalone.
I enjoyed what we saw of Fran and Tanner’s connection, as well as learning about Fran’s work as a crime scene artist, which wasn’t a job I knew existed. I’m not Christian, but I thought the characters’ faith was handled well, especially how the author drew the line between toxic tradition and actual faith through Fran’s backstory.
However, I did think the plot was weak. I enjoy romantic suspense novels, but I have noticed a tendency with Harlequin romantic suspense to sometimes amp up the action and sideline the romance because of the restricted page count. I don’t usually mind this, but when the mystery is flimsy, as it is here, it can really hamper my overall enjoyment of the book. The Amish connection felt shoehorned in, and after pages and pages of bullets being fired but no real progress on figuring out who was going it, I found myself getting bored. The author does try to throw in a personal connection for Fran toward the end, but by then it was just too little too late.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.