Concrete Evidence

Avery Elliott's grandfather raised her. She has always known him to be a man of faith and a straight shooter, in his business, personal, and political dealings. So when she sees him standing over the body of a dead man with a gun in his hand, it rattles her. Add to that a billing discrepancy that she discovers in regard to their company's construction of the Lago de Cobre Dam, and she begins to have serious questions—questions that are compounded by her grandfather's mysterious disappearance.

This was a real barnburner of a book! Mills kicked off the action early on, and it felt like a runaway horse. All I could do was hang on and keep turning the pages. Not only is Avery trying to figure out where her grandfather is and what his involvement with the dead man she saw might be, she's also trying to sort out how the dam their company built passed two inspections and now suddenly...doesn't. And to keep things revved up, there's a big hurricane headed toward Texas, and if that dam breaks, a lot of folks are going to be in a mess of trouble.

Faith is a clear theme in the book. Both Avery and Marc are Christians, but the events surrounding her grandfather's disappearance (for Avery) and his father's abandonment of him and his mother (for Marc) cause them to question. Avery is driven by her questioning of all the things she thought she knew to draw nearer to God through study and prayer, and we see both characters grow in their faith as a result of their struggles.

The pacing of the book is steady and compelling, and Mills throws in enough twists to keep the suspense high until the resolution. The characters were well written, and seeing Marc get to know the younger sister he didn't know he had was a nice sideline. I hope there are more stories written with these characters. I'd love to know what happens next!

Disclaimer: I received a review copy from the publisher and NetGalley. All opinions are mine, and I don't say nice things about books I don't actually like.