Shadows on the Sand Book Review

A Seaside Mystery

SUMMARY:  She serves him breakfast at her cafe' every morning ... but he never seems to notice her.  

     Carrie Carter's small cafe' in Seaside, New Jersey, is populated with a motley crew of locals ... although Carrie only has eyes for Greg Barnes.  He's recovering from a vicious crime that three years ago took the lives of his wife and childern - and from the year he tried to drink his reality away.  While her heart does a happy Snoopy dance at the sight of him, he never seems to notice her. 

     When Carrie's dishwasher is killed and her young waitress disappears, Greg finds himself drawn into helping Carrie solve the mysteries ... and into her life.  But when Carrie's own painful past becomes all too present, her carefully constructed world begins to sink.  

     Will the fragile relationship she's building with Greg implode from the weight of the baggage they both carry?

REVIEW:  This is a good book.  I like Carrie's character.  As a sixteen-year old, she runs away with her ten-year old sister from a drunk mother and her horrible boyfriends to Seaside.  She takes full responsibility for Lindsay, working as a waitress then becoming owner of Carrie's Cafe'.  She is strong but loving towards her customers and friends.  I like how the author shows Carrie's faith towards others, a quiet but secure faith that she relies on when things get tough.  Even though the relationship between Carrie and Greg seems to take off abruptly, I like how it evens out in the end. 

     The only problem I had with this book is that it switches from first person to third person quite often.  When the author is writing for Carrie, she writes in the first person and you can see her thoughts and concerns.  When the author switches to Greg, Harl or one of the other characters, it is written in the third person.  It took me a bit to get use to these changes.  In my opinion, it would have been better just to write all of it in the third person with insights to the character's thoughts, feelings, and ideas instead of switching back and forth.

 

This book was provided by Waterbrook Multnomah for review without compensation.

Gayle Roper, a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Romance Writers of America, is the multi award-winning, best-selling author of Fatal Deduction and more than forty other books.  She teaches and leads mentoring clinics at writers conferences across the country.  Gayle lives in eastern Pennsylvania.