Classic Henderson, raw honesty with surprising twists.Shannon Bliss has finally escaped from the people who took her so many years ago. She has been giving clues to Matthew Dane, head of Dane Investigations. Matthew's daughter was taken and he did everything in his power to get her back. He was able to get her back, but the cost was high. The aftermath was a long road to recovery, but they made it. His daughter is now a normal college girl. Shannon know this history and trusts Matthew to take care of her as she has escaped from her kidnappers, and there is a trail of missing children that Shannon is releasing to Matthew so families will have closure. Shannon shows up in the hallway of a hotel where Matthew was a speaker at a conference. The story takes off from there on a trial of twists and turns. Along the way, Henderson has cameo appearances of characters from previous books. I love this, it feels like these characters continue to live along with me.
Henderson's raw honesty of struggles with faith shows up in this book as well. Shannon shows how people can hang on to God when your seemingly perfect world, turns upside down and inside out in just a moment of time. I love how Shannon explains things to Matthew as she tells him she is like a catcus.
"I am a cactus, Matthew. Not an orchid. They're beautiful, but they can't handle heat or a tough environment. The circumstances throughout my life have made me who I am. I can plan. Strategize. Think across long periods of time. Put me in a room with those who hate God, and I can still thrive. God has made me into a tough, battle-hardened believer. I am very grateful to have those eleven years behind me. But I used them. I chose to survive with my faith intact. I chose to come out strong and together. I endured, and now I'm going to thrive. I don't expect life to be easy. I do expect God to be there with me."
This is why I love Henderson as a writer. She is honest about how we struggle with faith. Her characters will struggle and yet hold on to their love for God. This helps me to dig deeper in my faith. I wonder if I can do the same has Shannon and choose to survive the tough times I have. Or do I simply give up because things do not seem to go my way? This is for me to work out with God. I am grateful there are people that make me think about my faith and how it needs to be stronger. This book will challenge you in your faith. It will push you to take a look at how you live, and hopefully push you to reach out for the only one who can help you endure the hard things in life and thrive. This is a relationship with Jesus Christ.
My thanks to Bethany House publishers and Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.
