Special Agent Charli by Mimi Barbour

Loved Gramps; Good Suspense Plot

I thought there were good points and bad points to this book. The beginning was arranged a little strangely, starting chapter one with a very exciting scene where a young girl witnesses a murder and then going into Chapter 2 to something that happened a week earlier. It reminded me of certain police shows where they show you the inciting incident (or an exciting one), and then the screen shows something like “24 hours earlier” or “16 days ago.” I don’t think it works as well in novels. Perhaps make it a prologue. I think prologues are perfect for out-of-time-sequence scenes. When I finish a prologue, I have no expectation of where the timeline starts. I didn’t quite buy the romantic aspect of this story. I did like the suspense part of it; I thought it was well paced, which is so important for suspense. The author did a good job of describing character and setting. I can feel the young girl’s terror as she witnesses the murder and realizes what could happen to her. I thought there was a little too much profanity, though it did seem to have be contextual for the most part. I especially liked the character of Poppa John, and I found the author’s explanation for his character in her dedication to be quite sweet and heartwarming. I imagine, if the character is any indication, that he was a wonderful man.