Review: Woman in Shadow by Carrie Stuart Parks

About the Book

A woman off the grid.

Darby Graham thinks she's on a much-needed vacation in remote Idaho to relax. But before she even arrives at the ranch, an earthquake strikes—her first clue that something is amiss. Then when a cabin on the edge of town is engulfed in flames and problems at the ranch escalate, Darby finds herself immersed in a chilling mystery.

A town on fire.

A serial arsonist sends taunting letters to the press after each fire. As a forensic linguist, this is Darby’s area of expertise . . . but the scars it’s caused her also the reason she’s trying to escape from her life.

A growing darkness.

As the shadows continue to move in, the pieces of the town around her come into sharper focus. Can she trust the one man who sees her clearly?

Amazon / Goodreads

MY THOUGHTS

This was an action-packed and suspense-filled read that had me glued to the pages. I can't believe it's the first book I've read by this author. What was I thinking taking so long to try one of her books? I'm kicking myself because I enjoyed this so much.

It seemed like anything and everything that could go wrong at the Ranch did go wrong. Were all the various 'mishaps' strokes of bad luck, or were they deliberate acts of sabotage? And if so, why? I was so invested in finding out what was really going on. I was surprised quite a few times. And I could not figure out who the guilty party was. I was pretty much suspicious of everybody, but could never actually nail down the culprit. I love it when I can be kept guessing like that.

The Ranch is close to the Yellowstone caldera, so that added an interesting element to the story. As did Darby's profession as a forensic linguist. I didn't know anything about that job beforehand, so it was fascinating reading about what all that entailed.

I highly recommend this book to suspense and mystery fans. It was so good! I'm definitely eager to read more from this author.

FOUR STARS