Review – Never Look Back

Never Look Back is the second book in Kathy Herman’s Phantom Hollow Series where we once again reconnect with all the characters of Jacob’s Ear, Colorado from book one. We rejoin Ivy Griffith as she is released from prison and ready to finally begin the drug-free life she has spent her prison term thinking about. She accepts a job working at her father’s Christian camp, Three Peaks, moves into a cabin with her son Montana, and sets out to be the mother she had never been when using drugs.

Her father, impressed with Ivy’s rehab and wanting to give others in the same situation a break, invites two recovering substance abusers in a sponsored work program to repair cabins at Three Peaks. Not only does Ivy bond with one of the men, Rue Kessler, but a romance soon takes off and leads to a very surprising outcome that you HAVE TO READ to believe.

While Ivy and Rue only want to get on with their lives, get to know each other and see if a relationship is in God’s plans for them, local residents are terrorized by a serial maniac who brutally beats the elderly in their homes. Of course, Rue due to his past becomes a major suspect in the crimes, especially since he cannot prove his whereabouts on the nights of the crimes. Starting with the first beating, Herman sends us on a mystery that keeps us reading until the very end.

In my opinion, Kathy Herman always does a fantastic job of bringing forth a strong spiritual message though her characters struggles and growth, and Never Look Back is no exception. Throughout the book, Ivy Griffith struggles with letting go of her past actions-actions and sins she’s repented of, received forgiveness for, and yet continues to drag with her like a worn old security blanket. Through those who care for Ivy and help her to work toward unloading this baggage, we see how we can let go of these very things in our own lives.

Though Never Look Back is a stand alone book and doesn’t require you to read book one, Ever Present Danger, I recommend you read book one first. As much as I would have understood and cared for Ivy Griffith in Never Look Back if I hadn’t read book one, by having read the first book I can really feel how her pain and angst from her past made her the person she is. And I could far more readily appreciate how difficult it is for Ivy to give up her spiritual baggage.

But, no matter what you chose, to read book one or not to read book one, you are sure to enjoy another find Kathy Herman suspense novel that will satisfy you from page one to the end.