"Baby it's cold outside" Song lyrics

When a young pregnant woman is hit by a car near Flagstaff, Arizona, she's brought to the hospital and opens up a hidden world where a religious cult was active.

At the hospital is Sister Anselm, a patient advocate who deeply cares for those who don't have a voice in their own behalf. The woman gives birth but both she and her daughter are in critical condition.

Before lapsing into unconsciousness, the defenseless woman pleads with the young man who drove the care that hit her accidentally, please don't let them take me back.

With this plea, Sister Anselm stays at Enid's side and tells her friend, Ali Reynolds, who is police academy trained and works at her husband's computer technology company.

Both Ali and Sister Anselm are there when a confrontation occurs by two authoritative men from The Family who have come to bring Enid and her daughter back. This was an excellent scene that is well described by the author, J.A. Jance.

The story continues and we observe the manner in which the man at the cult treat their wives and how certain young girls disappear in the middle of the night.

As this goes on, a parallel story involves a senior citizen, Betsy Peterson  who is awakened by her dog one night and finds the gas has been turned on in her stove. If the dog hadn't awakened Betsy, she might have been killed. Betsy is the grandmother of Athena who is Ali's daughter-in-law.

With two dramatic story lines, the action moves nicely and the characters are well described and easy to root for. It's easy for the reader to feel empathy for both and both parts of the story treat meaningful situations in today's society, elder abuse and human trafficking along with religious cults who go to the extremes in their treatment of the people under their spell.

J.A. Jance is an excellent author and knows how to tell a compelling story. I didn't want this story to end because it was so good but I did want to see the villains get what was coming to them.

The novel is skillfully plotted and recommended. Don't miss it..