A Night to Remember

Riley Gordan has come back home to Adairsville, Georgia, hoping for a restful break from law school and some quality time with her dear friend, Trish. But the peace and quiet is shattered when one of Riley's Sunday school girls, Kaylene, is kidnapped. Kaylene is friends with Nate Bannister, a bit of a local celebrity around Adairsville. A former pro baseball player, Nate is making a run for local political office. Someone wants to keep him from running, and they figure putting Kaylene in harm's way will make the old man back off to keep her safe.

Adairsville, Georgia is a real place, similar in size to the small town I grew up in. So it's easy for me to visualize, and Danny and Wanda Pelfrey have filled it with engaging characters. I love the friendship between Riley and Trish. I can imagine the shenanigans they got up to when they were younger, and now they're putting themselves in harm's way to try to rescue Kaylene.

I liked the relationship between Nate and Kaylene, too. We live in a society where so often, older people are dismissed as no longer having worth. It was refreshing to see a friendship between the old and the young, and when Nate explained why Kaylene meant so much to him, I choked right up. Would that we valued and learned from our older folks more.

Faith is a strong component of this story. Riley teaches Sunday school. The characters pray and attend church services and rely on God for direction in their lives. They reach out to others and try to treat them as Jesus would have. It's nice to see a book where Christianity is an active part of the story, not just a passing mention, and it's done without leaving the reader feeling like they've been whacked upside the head with the King James Version of the Bible. Nicely done!

The story also did a good job of keeping me in the dark as to the bad guy's identity. I love stories where I'm kept guessing until the end.

There's a bit of romance, but it's clean. Language is also clean.

In short, this is a delightful mystery in a setting I hope to visit again in the rest of the series!

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book from the author. All opinions here are mine, and I don't say nice things about books I don't actually like.