Hold for Release by Heidi Glick Book Review

About the Book:

Carlotta Hartman's life is falling apart.

Although Carlotta desperately wants a child, her journalist husband just wishes their marriage would go back to the way things used to be before infertility treatments took over their schedule. While volunteering at an animal shelter to fill the void, Carlotta stumbles upon dead animals and a human body. Days later, Jake confesses to an affair with a co-worker. Hurt and confused, Carlotta moves in with her sister.

And then things go from bad to perilous.

As Jake receives counsel from a pastor, he pledges to woo Carlotta again and piece together their shattered marriage. But as Carlotta rushes out of Jake’s arms, she runs straight into danger. Like the articles Jake writes and holds for release, a psychopath, bent on revenge, vows to hang onto Carlotta until the time is right.

In the end, a secret from the past threatens to kill all hopes of a happy future. 

You can watch the book trailer here.

My Review:

Glick has written an entertaining mystery with a strong faith message and many relationship issues. It opens with a potentially dangerous situation for Carlotta. Then the mystery element takes a back seat to relationship issues between her and her husband, Jake. Someone is out to ruin their relationship.

While this is a good mystery, the strength of the novel is the character development and the strong faith message. Carlotta faces the experience of dealing with spousal betrayal. How can trust be built again? She finds the possibility of relationship restoration in the experience of her sister's marriage. Jake is faced with rebuilding trust with Carlotta while someone is trying to ruin his career. Both Carlotta and Jake need to see how their relationship to God will make the difference in the relationship to each other.

This is a good mystery for readers who like an emphasis on the characters and their faith transformation. Part of the villain structure was not hard to spot but the reason for the nefarious acts is revealed only near the end.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

About the Author:

Heidi Glick grew up in California but now calls Ohio home. Heidi taught middle and high school science and edited technical science documents before becoming an author. She has a passion for writing suspense novels from a Christian worldview. When she is not busy discovering unique ways to wreak havoc upon the lives of her fictional characters, she spends quality time with her family. You can find out more at https://heidiglick.weebly.com/. 

Pelican Book Group, 280 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book. My comments are an independent and honest review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)