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I have read other books by Lynette Eason. This is the first book in this series. I have to admit, it grew on me.

I was very confused at the beginning (prologue) where we are at Alexia's graduation. At this point, we know little of her history, so it was hard for me to realize that there wasn't really a fire even though what sounds like a fire is described (apparently in Alexia's thoughts or memories).

It seemed a little odd to me that with a fire memory like that, Alexia would pursue firefighting and smoke jumping as a career, but . . .

After an incident at a fire that results in her temporary suspension, Alexia returns to her hometown for the first time since graduation. But trouble follows her. And only part of the trouble is resolved in this book (which is a little annoying, but . . . we'll see.)

Quite a few people seem able to "disappear" in this book--something that seems a lot harder in this day and age where social security numbers are needed for so many things, and there's so many cameras, and so much social media presence.

Dominic (Alexia's brother)--left home after being caught dealing drugs and doesn't contact Alexia (and doesn't appear to have contacted his mother either). We find out what he did in this book.

Alexia's Father (Greg?)--leaves her mother at some point and no one hears from him again (until Hunter tracks down some history during this book--but we still don't know exactly where he is.)

Jillian Carter--leaves town graduation night and vanishes for years--then contacts Serena out of the blue (apparently just prior to Alexia coming home). We get an idea of what she might be doing in this book but she's part of the section where the mystery isn't resolved too. Somehow, I suspect we won't know the full story until the last book of the series.

I did like that so many people of faith are in this book: Alexia's mother; Michael Stewart, a pastor and man who's seeing Alexia's mother; Hunter; Dominic; Devin (though we don't get to know him well); Serena. I agree with another reviewer that there are good discussions about faith without it feeling too "preachy". (Though if you're a reader who dislikes any mention of Christian faith in fiction then this is not the book for you.) ( )

This was a fun book, with many twists and turns. I enjoyed the storyline and the characters. The mystery was strong enough to keep me guessing what would happen next.

The budding romantic relationship between Alexa and Hunter was interesting and realistically depicted, although the fact that it seemed a conflict of interest having a detective falling in love with a suspect pulled me out of the story on several occasions.

Although the mysteries and relationships encountered throughout the book were complex and fascinating, I was left unsatisfied at the end of the story with so many threads left open. This would have made a good stand-alone title if we'd reached a believable conclusion, but I wasn’t interested enough to feel compelled to read the next book, so am left hanging.

I received this book in a giveaway from the Goodread’s First Reads program.
( )

Fast paced read I simply could not set it down. Lots of action and a mystery with many twists and turns. But no resolution to the mystery (other than a hint in the epilogue) and though this first book of the series was free thru Kindle Unlimited, the rest of the series is not, nor is it available thru overdrive or at my local library. ( )

This was a tough book to get through and I wavered between a two and three star rating. The writing is decent and the plot is good, but I was constantly jarred out of the story by the author's writing style. Things improved during the last half of the book, but I still feel like I'm being generous with three stars. To make it easy, I'm writing my review in 'list' style:

What I didn't like:

1. I loved that Alexia was a strong firefighter in the first chapter, but then she lost a lot of her confidence when she returned to Columbia. I get that she was on leave, and at the same time resolving childhood traumas, but she turned into a limp dishrag. After the first five damsel-in-distress rescues I had to force myself to keep reading.

2. Let's talk about the flow. When The Smoke Clears is fast paced, which is my favorite flavor in reading material, unless scenes change so abruptly that I miss the switch. Thankfully, this book had section dividers to mark these jarring moments. Other issues with pace/timing: Injuries would occur with unrealistic recovery times. Time stamps were on every chapter, which only drew my attention to the problem. C'mon...if I had just been through all the things Alexia had gone through, I would've told the reunion committee they could pound sand. No way would I have felt obligated to fulfill that commitment! Also, hospitals have TV's and newspapers. I can't believe that after several days Alexia's mother didn't find out about Devin's death on her own.

3. Weak character dialogue. Whenever Alexia wasn't being actively assaulted, shot at, chased, etc., it felt like the author didn't know what to do with her characters. It created sections of choppy, unrealistic dialogue that did nothing to help me bond with the characters. It's a fixable thing and I'm sure the author will improve or has already improved.

4. Unresolved ending. If you're going to have a plot carried out across your series, you need to have another clear, resolvable plot for each book. In this book, I wasn't sure exactly what plot would've been consider the book plot: Was it Alexia's fight for her job? Was it to find who was trying to kill her in Washington? Was it to find Jillian? Was it Alexia's memory issues about her childhood? Finding her father? Finding her brother? Finding out who is trying to frame her for murder? Who's trying to kill her now that she's home? What do they think she knows? Why did they try to kill Hunter Graham? It's a hot mess for awhile. Some minor things were addressed at the end, but without much explanation. It was a very abrupt ending. When it was over, I stared at my iPad and said, "That's it? Seriously?" Siri answered,"I'm not sure I understand."

Hmm... Interesting.

What I did like:

1. Things smoothed out about 45% into the book and reading was much more enjoyable. I knew to anticipate the action, or maybe I just learned the author's writing style.

2. The action and suspense scenes are really good. They aren't up there with Colleen Coble just yet, but I'm confident they will be in time. I'm certain of that. I can also tell that Ms. Eason has done her research on police procedure, which is evident by Hunter's behavior in the parking garage and many other scenes. Easy to understand police communication without being overly wordy or bogging down the plot. Nicely done.

3. I thought Detective Hunter Graham stole the show from Alexia a few times. I really liked his character after he stopped wavering about Alexia's innocence. He's complex; soft spoken when he needed to be, yet when the situation called for a protective Alpha Male, he could deliver that, too. He wasn't perfect, either, as shown by his doubts about Chad's innocence which made him more realistic.

4. Serena's 'notes' to Alexia. This was a neat touch and I LOVED it! What a subtle way to show a friend that you love them. I thought it was a very non-confrontational way of bringing God's Word to someone who's never read the Bible before. Great passage selections and Serena's notes were very touching, too.

Overall, the ratings for this book are very high. I will admit that I enjoyed parts of it despite the ending, but I can't say I'm ready to jump right into the next book. Therefore, I recommend that fans of Christian Fiction and Mystery/Suspense give it a try. It's worth a read, but I'd suggest borrowing a copy from your local library...just in case I'm having an off day. ( )