It came from the Romance Section! This book had the words “Romantic Suspense” on the spine, which is what made me consider reading it in the first place. Mysteries can be interesting, but I just can’t seem to get into the books that are heavily about “romance”. Which way would this book lean? With much trepidation, I gave this book a read.

The story line is a twisted vine. Someone burns down a couple of churches in this small, southern town, and this brings in Jace Nolan, a policeman from “the city”. He doesn’t fit into this little town with its southern ways, and manages to basically anger everyone he encounters while trying to solve this case. He especially angers Lindsey Sloan, the woman who teaches what is essentially “the Gifted Kids” in the high school, by stating that he is certain some of “her kids” were involved in the church burnings. Lindsey is very protective of her little group of students, most of whom she has been teaching for years, and who she has gotten to know very well. Jace is convinced that only her kids would be smart enough to get away with these kinds of crimes, and that the same kids would get a rush off of getting away with it. He predicts that things will get worse before they get better, as the unknown killer seeks bigger and bigger rushes, involving more danger, and, eventually, deaths.

Lindsey and Jace basically butt heads for a while, until they don’t. Here is where the “romance” part of the novel comes in. The two find themselves attracted to each other, but both are fighting against it, making for all sorts of tension. I guess it would be good, if you were reading this because you wanted to read a romance novel, but I was gritting my teeth as I read it. To me, their attraction, and denial of it, came across a little too “high school” for me to find it believable. They think about how attractive the other one is. They wonder who around them can “see” how they feel. They act like they hate each other, to hide their attractions. Blah. Adults don’t usually act like this.

The mystery part of the book is pretty good. First, you have the church burnings. Some of Lindsey’s students wind up dead, (and so do some adults), in ways that, at first, appear to be suicides. There isn’t any clue as to who is behind it, but, the reader does get a few pages every so often from the viewpoint of the unknown killer. I had a few guesses about who the killer was, but, then I would read more, and change my mind.

Much of this book would qualify as a “thriller”. The action was fast paced, and there were many scenes where I was certain a major character was going to wind up dead. There is just enough “police work” going on to give the reader a sense that things are not as they appear, especially the parts where they try to find out what could have caused the apparent suicides. The killer seems to have left a fairly convincing trail of false evidence that made a lot of sense, if you think a suicide happened. Very detailed, but not quite in the realm of those CSI shows.

The ending, however, is where things fell apart a little bit for me. There is a big dramatic scene where the killer is finally revealed, and I found that scene, overall, to be really intense, and a great read. But, when I found out exactly who was behind all the deaths, and the reasons why… this is where things fell apart for me. I just could not buy it. The book spends such a long time pointing out how smart Lindsey’s students are… but, the ending contridicted that in many ways.

If you are looking for an interesting twist on the “school shooting” theme we are seeing in so many books lately, but, would rather read one that is somewhat removed from reality, this might be the book for you. The writing style was somewhat “dumbed down”, in my opinion, and many of the characters were a bit one dimensional, which I did not expect, considering that the author was a teacher. However, this sort of writing does match most of the books I find in the Romance Section, so, I guess I should have expected that. These are the “light and easy reads”, and I keep wanting more meat to the story.

What does come through loud and clear is Lindsey’s deep feelings about her students. She really does care about these kids, she defends them, she wants to believe the best about them, she truly grieves when they die. It is clear that the school “system” just doesn’t understand the struggles her students have, despite being so very smart, and Lindsey fights for them, to make sure their needs are being met. Only a former teacher would be able to write that part of the book so convincingly.