Trace of Doubt

Author: DiAnn Mills

Publisher: Tyndale House

Release Date: September 7, 2021

With a fantastic protagonist and plot DiAnn Mills sucked me in to this story and held me tight!

It’s been fifteen years since Shelby Pearce confessed to murdering her brother-in-law and spent that time in prison. After being released on parole, she moves to the small town of Valleysburg, Texas to start over, but starting over won’t be as easy as she had hoped. When she was first convicted, FBI agent Denton McClure was a rookie working on her case. Shelby might have been convicted of murder, but she was also suspected of embezzling half a million from her brother-in-law’s non-profit organization. Now, Denton moves to Valleysburg to try and gain her trust and find out what happened to the money from all those years ago. The more time he spends with Shelby, the less he thinks she was responsible for taking the money and now she is receiving threats if she doesn’t disappear or commit suicide. In a case where nothing is as it seems, Shelby is now in a fight for her life and Denton isn’t sure who the villain is anymore.

This book had an absolutely fantastic start with a wonderful protagonist and plot that intrigued me and had me cheering for Shelby. She quickly became one of my favorite characters for the year and I love the plot.  At least, I love it all until about 80% of the way through the book.  Up to that point the story had me, I believed it all and couldn’t wait to see what would happen. Then I felt like we went from fiction to more far-fetched fiction and while still enjoyable, it just lost its believable quality. I love DiAnn Mills writing, her last book was her best by far, and I was hoping this one was going to surpass until things took a bit of a left turn. I realize that it’s all fiction, but her stories have always had such a believable quality to them that I feel like I’m one of the minor characters throughout the book. I’ve talked about this book with several of my reader friends who have also read it and while they noticed the same thing, they didn’t feel that it took as much away from the store.  I do think romantic suspense lovers will still enjoy the story and I’ll be curious to get their thoughts on the ending.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher.  The views and opinions expressed within are my own.