If you’re a fan of the Love Inspired line of novels and you like romantic suspense, Robin Caroll’s In the Shadow of Evil will fill your bill. Published by B& H’s Pure Enjoyment fiction line, In the Shadow of Evil is featured this week in the CFBA Tour.
Two people embittered by painful events in their childhoods come face to face in a murder case. Layla Taylor’s Homes of Hope house has burned to the ground with a building inspector inside it. Detective Maddox Bishop and his older partner Houston Wallace add the female contractor (Layla) to their suspect list. Layla’s devastation at seeing the rubble of her award winning home is doubled by the fact that a murdered business associate lies within its remains. From the start of the investigation Layla and Maddox butt heads and glares, but as more tragedies erupt in the town directly related to Layla and her younger sister Alana, feelings and attractions between the contractor and the cop evolve into concern and closer contact.
We learn early on that the teenaged Maddox’s mother dies in his arms from a stab wound when he arrives home late after his curfew—and that his father who’s in the service and away on tour blames him for her death while Maddox blames his father for being away. Her murder has never been solved. Maddox also blames God. Layla, who is a believer, witnessed the aftermath of her mother’s overdose and hasn’t been to see the debilitated woman, since her OD caused her to remain in a nursing home, in spite of Alana’s urging Layla to forgive and visit their mom.
In the Shadow of Evil follows the events of a corrupted and mentally disturbed associate in the building industry who’s trying to win a bid on the construction of a casino. When things and people get in his way to the contract he’s counting on for misguided reasons, he believes his only choice is to start eliminating those obstacles.
With forgiveness as its major theme, In the Shadow of Evil follows the intersecting of lives when tragedies strike and compassion emerges, and crimes are unexpectedly solved. The naïve and strong-willed Layla runs smack dab into her equal as far as stubbornness in Maddox but also finds his strength a relief when she’s at the end of her own.
Cleanly written, predictable romantic suspense. If you enjoy the simplicity and innocence of stories that typify those in the Love Inspired line of fiction, In the Shadow of Evil from Robin Caroll and B&H Pure Enjoyment will provide you with a few hours of entertainment.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0805449795
Father, please continue to provide those stories you have just for Robin to tell. Give her hope and strength and diligence in the process. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.