Lisa Harris delivers another action-packed romantic suspense thriller with “A Secret to Die For.”
After her home is broken into, psychologist Grace Callahan finds herself drawn even more deeply into a deadly situation that stems back to her patient, Stephen Shaw. When Stephen is found murdered, Grace is reunited with a former college friend, Homicide Detective Nathaniel Quinn. The two must decipher a mysterious message her former client left her, and figure out who is behind the deadly actions, and what their true intent is.
And in the middle of the all the action, Grace and Nate must come to terms with the feelings they know are building between them while overcoming their own past losses and traumas.
Filled with theft, kidnapping, murder, shootings and car chases, “A Secret to Die For” is a heart-thumping story that will leave you guessing until the very end as to who the true perpetrator is and why they keep going after Grace. Harris does an excellent job of revealing just enough information to keep the plot moving quickly and smoothly, yet withholding just enough to keep the reader intrigued.
Besides being a great thriller, though, “A Secret to Die For” provides so many amazing lessons — dealing with unanswered prayers; overcoming our scars, both those people can see and those that people can’t see; only God can heal the holes in our hearts; there are no guarantees in life; because we live in a fallen world we will face tragedies; blaming and questioning God; there will always be evil in the world, but we will overcome it; and brokenness.
In addition to all these amazing gems, this book contains several major themes that run throughout the story. We constantly see the age old question of where is God right now?, as well as we’re reminded that we can’t heal without letting go.
The main theme “A Secret to Die For” deals with, though, is dealing with and overcoming grief. Harris repeatedly reminds us that both Jesus and God understand grief. As she writes from Grace’s perspective: “Somehow, though, in the middle of feeling as if no one understood, she’d begun to discover there was One who did understand this journey of grief. Sometimes she’d hear God’s quiet voice in the wind. Feel his presence in the words of a song. She realized that he could feel her pain and that he understood the depth of her loss. Because he’d watched his own Son die as well.”
“A Secret to Die For” isn’t therefore just constant action, although it has plenty of it. It is also at times deeply introspective, which slows the action down and gives the reader a breather and a chance to reflect. Those who have gone through deeply traumatic experiences will relate to both Grace and Nate.
I’m not sure if this is intended to be a standalone, or if there will be future books in a series. Harris’ next “edge-of-your-seat story” is due out Fall 2019.
Five stars out of five.
Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, provided this complimentary copy for my honest, unbiased review.