Dee Henderson’s talent for creating character driven, Christian themed romantic suspense with fascinating plots, schemes and counterplots characterizes Unspoken. Where dual storylines, intricately linked, sweep through pages fueled by murder, kidnapping, lies and deceit as long held secrets bubble to the surface, secrets that challenge the sanity and future of Charlotte Graham.
However, Charlotte’s given name was Ruth. She was a bright and vibrant sixteen-year-old when her abductors kidnapped and held her captive until local police and FBI agents rescued her four years later. Now, eighteen years since her rescue she still hasn’t spoken to anyone about what happened.
Even though her abductors had been killed during her rescue the experience had left a God-shaped hole that challenged Charlotte’s faith and destroyed her trust. She couldn’t understand how a loving Father allowed what happened to her. The worst part was knowing God would forgive her abductors if they asked. She didn’t. She couldn’t.
Currently, Charlotte’s days were busy running the largest storage facility in the United States, only part of an extremely large legacy inherited from her grandfather that included rare gold coins and other business interests. Otherwise, Charlotte kept to herself.
Until she meets Bryce Bishop, a savvy businessman known to have the “Midas touch” who deals in high-end gold coins. Bryce is intrigued when Charlotte sets up shop next to his business with the offer of buying him out or having her as a competitor.
Add a mysterious phone call from an FBI agent who Bishop’s good friend Paul Falcon endorses. A military trained body guard, incredible wealth and a reporter determined to learn Charlotte’s secrets and readers have a captivating romantic suspense. Wrapped in themes of forgiveness, healing and restoration, even though the spiritual issue of why bad things happen is never fully answered.
The pace is slower than I expected but Henderson kept the pages turning, just not with the same urgency as when I read “Full Disclosure.” Paul Falcon and Ann Silver from the previous book add to the narrative and keep the pace moving as they work to solve the cold case of a child kidnapping-murder with surprising connections to Charlotte.
“Unspoken” can be read as a stand-alone novel or as the sequel to Henderson’s first book, “Full Disclosure.” Her next book, “Undetected” releases April 29, 2014. From advance notices it appears to be a standalone title or the beginning of a new series I plan to read.
