Never Let Go by Elizabeth Goddard is a mystery tinged with some romance. From the very first page the story’s tension builds.
The plot begins when a new born baby is taken away from its birth mother, Katelyn Mason. Now, approximately twenty years later she is dying of cancer and wants to be reunited with her daughter. Unfortunately, all the investigators she has hired over the years have found no clues. Her only hope is that Anderson Consulting, forensic genealogists, will find her daughter. But someone is trying to stop then. First the founder was killed in a hit and run accident, and now his grand-daughter, Willow Anderson, who took over the case, had her house burned to the ground. She contacts her ex-boyfriend, Austin, to inform him of her grandfather’s passing since they were really close. Having been in law enforcement and now a private investigator Austin joins forces with Willow to find the daughter and get to the bottom of the vicious crimes.
Goddard noted, “I ran across an article in my hardcopy local newspaper. It was about a forensic genealogist who assisted the police in finding the true identity of a woman. She was about thirty and had died. It turned out her background was not what people thought. She was from New Jersey and never told her family that she moved to the Mid-West. In fact, she changed her name so her family never knew what happened to her. Then I found out on a website about a woman who was abducted at birth. She never knew that her mother was not her birth mother until she was about eighteen years old.”
Austin is a complex character who grew up in Wyoming with many secrets. He is a gentle person who is very guarded. “I wanted to write him as a constant professional, an overachiever, part cowboy who wears Stetson hats and part sophisticated lawman. I hope people see him as a real person with faults. I contrast him with Willow who is all about uncovering the truth. She is determined, persistent, adventurous, and will push people’s boundaries, especially Austin’s. Willow tries to work out problems with Austin instead of walking away.”
This cold-case story delves into how past experiences influence the future. Readers are able to solve the case along with the characters because the author provides some insightful clues.
