Let me start off my saying that if you haven’t read One Little Lie, the first book in this trilogy, you should probably do that, because I didn’t, and I spent most of this book trying to figure out what the heck was going on and why exactly Jane Hardy hadn’t murdered the man who kept her son from her for 15 years, and hidden his body in a shallow grave. Because as a mother, frankly, this is exactly what I would have done, not allowed him back into my life. There’s a weird backstory where Jane and Reid both grew up in a cult and were married when Reid was 18 and Jane 14 (and that’s a big yikes, even hinted at). The whole cult thing gets explored a bit here, but was obviously really detailed in the first book. Here unfortunately I think it actually derails the main thread of the story, a plot to blow up an oil rig off Mobile Bay which Jane and Reid must investigate. They are constantly getting derailed by other things, and honestly it feels like it’s because the main plot doesn’t have enough meat to it to sustain a full book. Certainly the final resolution is something of a let down.
I don’t quite buy this as a romantic suspense either, because frankly, there’s not enough romance in it. There’s one kiss between the two leads and that’s it. It’s a mystery/thriller with a romantic subplot, and not much of one at that. There’s more overt evangelising than romance, and frankly I found that annoying because it’s not what the blurb ‘sold me’ on.
This definitely isn’t a standalone, and I really don’t think you can jump in here and enjoy the series because there’s just too much confusing backstory. The fact that it fails as a romantic suspense too means I’m just not interested in reading any more of the rest of the series. Two stars and frankly, I’d hesitate before picking up anything else by this author because the overt evangelising isn’t really to my taste either.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this title via NetGalley.