In this romantic thriller for the Christian market, an unlikable protagonist and numerous clichés mar the story of a journalist who "had traded her own relationship with God for a hot career, but... seemed to be getting burned in the process." When investigative reporter Jill Lewis breaks a soon-discredited story about a high-powered U.S. senator who's brokering illegal adoptions, she loses her boyfriend, David, her job on the Washington Gazette
and her reputation. Fleeing to her mother's estate in Wisconsin, Jill takes a job writing obituaries for the local paper. Back in Washington, her source commits suicide—or was he murdered? Her own father's death a year ago also begins to appear suspicious. Could her father's "accident" and immense wealth be tied to the senator's nefarious activities? Well, yes—and it's a giant stretch for the reader to believe it. All the tired clichés are present—big city girl returns home to small town, said girl is trapped in a snowstorm overnight with her love interest, etc. The plot developments are predictable and often unbelievable, the romance inevitable. The mandatory CBA conversion scene lacks conviction, and Jill's subsequent spiritual awakening feels inauthentic. The brand-name clothing and accessories could stock a Marshall Field's warehouse. But perhaps the greatest obstacle for the reader is Jill herself—conceited, unlikable and alternately startlingly obtuse and victimized or weepy and pining after a man. CBA readers have better choices in the inspirational suspense genre. (Feb.)
