Review: Shadows Close In by Kristina Hall

Shadows Close In by Kristina Hall

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Disclosure: I received this book free from the publisher/author. The opinions I have expressed are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

Ends of series are just sad. Not the book in itself, but because it means that I won’t get to visit my fictional friends ever again. And this goes for Friedrich and Mellie – these two are one of my favorite couples!

Characters: The entire cast of characters (minus the villains, of course), are wonderful, realistic people. Mellie and all her humor is just unrivaled – even after going through an entire series of suspense, she can still crack a joke. But this book revealed a side of her that struggled even to find something humorous to say. This book dug beyond her humorous exterior for sure! And then there’s Friedrich. He really seemed to come into his own in this book – his quiet, certain, protectiveness no matter the cost was so beautiful. And I was also glad to see his arc wrap up a bit from the last book. No, he didn’t have a completely one-eighty to perfection, but he was coming around. And then the side characters – Jess, Audra, Ivy, Dr. Benton, Nathaniel … I loved them! Nathaniel’s one of my favorite side characters in this book, but I also really enjoy Jess and her sweet relationship with Mellie.

Setting/Writing Style/Plot: Like the other books in the series, this story takes place in Eastern Kentucky, but we also get to travel around the country a bit. So that was fun to kinda go on a trip with these characters! The writing style was really enjoyable – the word choices were some of my favorite parts. The plot was filled with plenty of suspense and twists and turns, and it really wrapped up most of the loose threads from the rest of the books.

Theme: I think a big part of this book was simply holding onto the Lord in spite of the insanity of life. Poor Mellie and Friedrich had such a hard time of it, so much so that they couldn’t do much more other than cry out for help. And the same is true for us – sometimes we can do nothing other than cry for help, and the Lord is still there to uphold us. We don’t do something dramatic to “deserve” His help (not that we could ever do anything to deserve Him), and He is always with us and upholding us, even in the darkest of moments. And there were also other beautiful themes of love (yes Friedrich and Mellie!), sacrifice, and the sanctity of all life.

If you enjoy suspense, you need to read this book. Well, actually, you need to read the entire series. 🙂 It’s sad to leave Mellie and Friedrich after this book, but I can always go back and reread!





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