Coal Hollow: An Echo in the Abyss by Cher Duncombe

Synopsis:

Caroline Davis has been a Private Investigator for several years when she decided to attend a conference for P.I.s to find new computer applications used by others in the field. Not a gregarious person, she forced herself to attend for positive networking.

At the conference, she is approached by Joel Foster, another Private Investigator. Joel tells Caroline that their mutual friend and mentor, Jim Dublin, has a case on which he wants her to collaborate. The cold case involves a missing child named Gracie, missing for three years. Jim felt that, as a team and utilizing their investigative experience, they might be able to find this child.

As with many investigations, the case spiders into dangerous realms and puts both investigators in danger. They wind up in a desolate mining town of Pennsylvania. While the scenery is beautiful, the secrets they uncover are dark. Evil lurks in many places, and Caroline Davis is certain that it lives in this town.

Review:

Caroline Davis is an experienced Private Investigator. She is recently divorced from an overbearing possessive husband. Her parents weren’t loving towards her and she has had to manage life on her own. While at a conference for private investigators, she meets PI Joel Foster. They have a mutual mentor, Jim Dublin, who wants Caroline and Joel to collaborate together to solve the case of a missing child, 6 year old Gracie Bergman. Gracie has been missing for three years and the case has gone cold. Together they head to a small mining town in Pennsylvania where a felon, Mahaffey, was just released from jail due to drug possession. Mahaffey is suspected of murdering Gracie. They know the area where Mahaffey may be hiding out, Coal Hollow. They don’t have much to go on, but after much investigating one thing leads to another and before they know it they are in deep, finding themselves in danger due to Mahaffey and his sordid actions.

With Coal Hollow: An Echo in the Abyss, Cher Duncombe has composed and crafted an intriguing, captivating story that needs to be touched on more- the ever increasing incidents of children gone missing. I was very impressed with the detail of the private investigative work. It is very interesting and compelling to read. The author herself is a private investigator, so she writes this story extremely well with much detail and experience.

I loved the main character, Caroline. She is sensitive and complicated. She struggles with her thought life and fear, but finds some sense of inner peace by giving herself fully to her work. She is very touched by the case that she is working on and offers up prayers for the innocent children. She is a fully developed character and I found her to be very relatable and realistic. The secondary characters are well fleshed out as well. I was impressed with the thoughtful dialog and interaction between Caroline and Joel. The entire narrative is written with skill and creativity,

I fully enjoyed Coal Hollow: An Echo in the Abyss, I was engaged and captivated from the very first chapter and couldn’t put it down. The descriptive writing of the scenery and setting is beautiful and visually appealing. My imaginary senses were fully satisfied. I felt like I was there watching on as this harrowing story progressed. Author Cher Duncombe is extremely talented with a unique and incisive voice. I could tell that this subject line has a lot of meaning to her and she wrote it from her heart and possibly from experience. This is a compelling must read crime story. It is fast paced and easy to read. The ending comes to a screeching crescendo and I was completely surprised and fulfilled.

Coal Hollow: An Echo in the Abyss is one of those books that, due to the context, touches a nerve and reaches into your heart and tugs. It is full of action and suspense and characters that are real, with events that are all too real as well. Our world has an underground of evil people that are out to harm our children. I am so glad that Cher Duncombe has written this book, although it is fiction, it is true to life and needs attention and exposure. Chick lit Cafe highly recommends Coal Hollow: An Echo in the Abyss to discerning readers and those that are interested in the subject of missing children and child trafficking.

Purchase Coal Hollow: An Echo in the Abyss by Cher Duncombe @Amazon