FEAR NO EVIL

Robin Caroll

B&H Fiction

ISBN:  978-0-8054-4981-5

August 2010

Christian Fiction - Romance

This novel follows Caroll’s superb novel, DELIVER US FROM EVIL, and tells Lincoln Vailes’ story.  In the first book he was a park ranger in the Great Smoky Mountains.  Now that his best friend has married and his father’s health is failing, he feels called to return to the bayou town of Eternal Springs, Louisiana, to take a new job as a police officer. 

Jade Santiago is a social worker who works tirelessly for a battered women’s shelter.  She has come from Philadelphia and is eager and young.  She immediately gets involved in a case that seems to be putting her life in danger.  Yet, the attempt to run her off the road and being shot at don’t exactly compute with the man whose wife she is trying to protect in the women’s shelter.  Something else seems wrong and Lincoln is acutely aware that he needs to listen to his instincts. 

The beauty of this book lies in the terrific character development.  We become very close to Lincoln, his struggles around his father’s Alzheimer’s, his mother’s devotion, and his anger at God for seemingly abandoning his father, a retired minister.  Through it all, Lincoln becomes acutely aware of his attraction to the little social worker with lots of nerve.  He also knows there is more to her story than she reveals. 

This book deals poignantly with gangs and the consequences of the violence that characterizes these groups.  Caroll has cleverly woven this into the story, especially when the gang intrudes upon Eternal Springs. 

This is a particularly excellent inspirational romance that tells us Lincoln’s story.  I suspect the next book might be about Maddox, another criminal investigator who figures prominently in the novel.  Excellent, well-written book. 

Reviewed by Jeri Neal

Rating:  4 1/2