"Rising Darkness" by Nancy Mehl

Rising Darkness (Nov. 3, 2015) by Nancy Mehl.*

Armed with a potential lead from a man she knew from her old life, Sophie Wittenbauer a.k.a. Sophie Bauer a.k.a. Emily McClure heads to the small town of Sanctuary, Missouri. She’s trying to track down a suspect connected to a decades-old unsolved crime in which people were slain and a great sum of money was stolen. She envisions finding Terrance Chase and solving the crime, thus catapulting her to fame in the world of investigative reporting. She wants all of the families affected to have closure as well, but somehow that seems second to the fame. An afterthought, almost.

            Sanctuary is a town reminiscent of Kingdom (a primarily Mennonite town), where she grew up, and a place which she vowed never to return. Her past there is threaded with darkness and despair. It’s a place to be forgotten. There are kind memories of good people, but they are sporadic to surface. One such face, Jonathon Wiese, is the one person she loved, though she can’t picture him ever having seen her as more than a broken person to be fixed. On the contrary, Jonathon has prayed about Sophie and thought of her often over the years. Fortuitously, he is even in Sanctuary, in good standing as the pastor of the other church in town. And there is something about Emily that reminds him of Sophie …

            With the permission of Sanctuary’s Mennonite pastor, Pastor Troyer, Emily gains access to the town’s records of new arrivals, moves and deaths. She’s researching all of that under the guise of learning her family history, with her crafted story of having recently learned her mother was adopted. Her hostess, Esther Lapp, knew Emily’s supposed ancestors well. Will she see through Emily’s deceit? As her research continues, threatening notes begin to arrive. Who’s onto her? How far will someone go to make sure she doesn’t uncover the truth?

            As much as I enjoy historical Christian fiction, it was a nice change to read present-day Christian fiction. I’m a fan of suspense, and I was not disappointed with “Rising Darkness.” My first story from this author, I found it to be well-written and actually quite remarkable. Mehl has a lovely way with words. Many parts of her story jump out, but here’s my favorite: “Look at God as your sunscreen. When you’re healthy, you’ll go outside again. But this time, you’ll have a covering. The grace, love, and protection of God” (p. 268). The ending did not turn out totally as I would have expected, which I thought was terrific. The characters are distinct, and I appreciated that Sophie wasn’t all patience and pearls; she had a troubled past and spends most of the story not wholly trusting God. She’s still got to find herself and the light on the path, which is something most, if not all, of us must do at some point in our lives.

* Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions are expressly my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”