Book review: Innocent Minds by CA Asbrey

Blurb:

After suffering a horrific loss, Nat and Abi must try to piece their lives together, build a future, and repair the past. But before they can figure out their own complicated relationship, they must unite to help Jake find his children—no easy task, since their mother has disappeared, and they’ve been left with a priest who is bent on giving them away!

In a maelstrom of grief, anger, and legal complications, one of Abi’s friends, Dr. Vida Cadwallader, also a female Pinkerton, steps up to help. As Vida tries to help The Innocents make sense of what’s happening, she soon becomes embroiled in mysterious happenings within the brutal insane asylum where she consults part-time. When one of her colleagues is murdered, Vida quickly becomes a suspect.

With no time to lose, Vida, Abi, Jake, and Nat band together to free one of the asylum’s unwilling patients who may hold the key to all their unanswered questions—if she only lives long enough to survive the escape. Now, with an unknown murderer on the loose as well, time is running short for them to find the children, solve the crime, and spirit the patient away to safety. Can they keep their necks out of the noose and buy enough time to solve the mystery shrouding their lives? Can anyone make sense of this world of shadows, darkness, and madness?

My review:

I'm going to preface this with a warning:  I'm an empathetic reader.  And when I find myself connected to a story and invested in characters as I have with Abi, Nat, and Jake, I have a challenge on my hands to process all my emotions I feel with the story along with all the characters' emotions.

So when I tell you I had to (ahem) gently and purposely put my kindle down and walk away from this story for a bit, you know something dug deep.  It's a mark of a skilled author to not only deliver those responses, but make it so as soon as I sorted through the myriad of emotions, I was ready and even a bit anxious (both with anticipation and trepidation) to see what happened next.

That being said, with this 5th installment of The Innocents series, we're treated to a journey of restoring family and healing which soothed some hurts, along with a new mystery that not only gave me ghostbumps several times, but threw some curve balls that I never picked up on.  There's also another twist in here that once you get over the shock of it, it actually makes the story all the better.  But you really gotta take a breather there too and logic it out, if you're anything like me.

Innocent Minds delivers a story filled with passion, vengeance, heartbreak, and healing.  The mystery feels a bit low-key compared to the other stories, but I believe that's due to the depth of the emotional journey the characters face at this time in their lives and how it all fits together.   The whodonit is still just as twisted and intricate as I've come to expect.

As always, when I come to the end of a new Innocents book, the anticipation for the next book is strong!  One more to go, and I know the journey will be worth it all.

Purchase links:

        Kindle Link        Trade Paperback Link