Rebecca Reviews ~ One Final Breath (Dive Team Investigations 3) by Lynn H. Blackburn

Paperback, 336 pages

Published September 3rd 2019 by Revell

Investigator Gabe Chavez and Dive Team Captain Anissa Bell have a complicated history. But when Anissa's fractured past collides with Gabe's investigation of a shooting, they must work together to catch the murderer before someone else dies.

Rebecca's Review

4 STARS!!!!

"I'm just trying, always, to make up for my messes. Trying to do enough to be worth the sacrifice they made."

If the truth were known, both investigator Gabe Chavez and dive team captain Anissa Bell had been living their entire adult life trying to compensate for the misinterpreted mistakes of their youth. As different as they were on the outside, the two had a lot in common on the inside; they were both terribly afraid of moving beyond the annoyance/fascination friendship that they had tentatively formed. It would take a trio of unsolved crimes to break through those kind of defenses and even then, there were no guarantees.

When a young woman nearly drowns on Lake Porter while holding a near lifeless friend in her arms, investigators quickly hit a dead end on what appears to have been a random shooting. However, more and more "random" occurrences emerge on their radar, especially after Anissa is convinced that a teenager they see in the hospital following the shooting, is someone she knows. And that's before danger comes knocking on her front door; literally.

What a superb balance of character and story! The author has given her characters plenty of space to breathe while strategically positioning the unknowns in carefully guarded locations. The romance is tender and sweet, allowing the suspense to hover in the background . . . . until it doesn't. Will Anissa be forced to take "one final breath"?

I received a copy of this story from the publisher. The opinions stated above are entirely my own.

Rebecca is a graduate of Bryan College with a degree in Christian Education, and is currently serving at the First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Gastonia, North Carolina as the Director of Children's Ministry. With over 30 years of experience in her field, she has had many opportunities to use her love of reading and writing in creative ways across the generations. A wife, mother of four "nearly" grown children, and grandmother to four beautiful grandchildren, Rebecca has been able to return to her love of reading and more recently reviewing, with a renewed passion for the "beauty of story".