Lame.

Predictable story line. Stilted writing. Shallow characters. So-so sense of place.

The author had her characters acting and speaking in ways that didn’t fit them or their situations. She didn’t seem to have command of her material: how insurance investigators would act, what a “Baptist minister with a small congregation” would say. She has him speak words that no Baptist minister would ever say while conducting a funeral service for a hardened criminal, “And we commend the eternal soul of {character x} to You, O Lord! Receive him and take him into the Kingdom of Heaven.”

In one passage, she gives graphic descriptions of an unmarried couple’s bedroom actions. It wasn’t the whole book, but it was annoying, and added nothing to the story.

Altogether a waste of time. As a Christian, I can’t recommend it. As a lover of good stories, I can’t recommend it. ( )