Review – Rising Darkness

Sophie Wittenbauer left her strict Mennonite hometown under a cloud of shame and regret. Certain she’s left her past far behind her, she’s now focused on her job at a newspaper and is shocked when she stumbles upon the name of someone she knew in her old life. But when she learns the man–a prisoner–claims a suspect from a decades-old unsolved crime is hiding out in the small town of Sanctuary, Missouri, she can’t resist following the lead in hopes of furthering her career.

Almost immediately upon her arrival, Sophie’s confronted with a face from her past and fears her intention of using a false identity to investigate is doomed. But with the help of Sanctuary’s charismatic young pastor, Sophie knows she’s getting close. Will she be able to conceal the truth of her own past long enough to find the suspect before someone puts a stop–fatal or otherwise–to her investigation?

“Romantic suspense at its best, with an engaging plot that’s not overpowering. Mehl is an amazing author who writes believable stories, knows what fans expect and does not disappoint.”–RT Book Reviews
“Nancy Mehl writes a slew of twists that the reader will not see coming….For readers who want a great tale, a spell-binding character, and a little religion, this is the perfect mystery.”–Suspense Magazine

My thoughts: First, the disclaimer. “I was provided a free copy of this book. All opinions are my own.” That done, RISING DARKNESS is the third and final book in Ms. Mehl’s Finding Sanctuary series. If you missed the first two, they are: Gathering Shadows, Deadly Echoes, and RISING DARKNESS. The stories do stand alone, although they are set in the same small town community and have some overlapping characters.

I greatly enjoyed this story. After I read Deadly Echoes I hoped Jonathon would be the hero in this book — and yay, he was! I enjoyed to getting to know him and Sophie. At first she bothered me, with her disbelief in God and her New Age beliefs, but there were a lot of good faith messages in there and she grew to trust.

I did mostly have the story figured out — who-dun-it and why, but not everything. There were some surprise twists at the end that I didn’t see coming.