This was a very enjoyable novella. I will be looking for more books by this author ( )

A small town tragedy six years ago sets up this mystery that’s full of secrets and complex relationships.

Tangleheart, Texas is the backdrop for what looks like a suicide that affects the lives of many. Charlie Drexler didn’t have a good home life. The one good thing he did have was a friendship with a young quite girl named Anna that he wished could be so much more. After breaking up with his girlfriend Megan and going off to work on the pipelines he returns home after hearing she isn’t taking the breakup well. Before he gets to see her she commits suicide and Charlie leaves Tangleheart and Anna whose always been in love with him behind and joins the Army.

Six years later he comes home hoping to win back the girl he never forgot. But with guilt still deep inside him from Megan’s death and the loss of this platoon in Afghanistan Charlie is still trying to heal emotionally. Anna who’s not ready to forgive Charlie for leaving her all those years ago doesn’t make things easy for him.

Along with Charlie and Anna the supporting cast of Anna’s sister Simone and her husband Nate who was Charlie’s good friend in high school round out what turns into a suspense when Simone goes missing with her young son and Charlie finds out that maybe Megan didn’t kill herself. With an attempt on Anna’s life and the search for Simone the story wraps up with a shocking conclusion.

Even though this was a short novel you still got the feel of a good small town mystery with plenty of angst and a good romance.
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Solid, but without much emotional depth. ( )

HUSH stuffed a novel's worth of plot into a novella. The story was fast-paced and exciting. But something has to give and what seemed to give in this story was the building of the motivations of the villains. Ms. Baldwin seemed to be leading me to a certain conclusion and then brought the villains in out of left field.

Charlie Drexler left Tangleheart, Texas after the suicide of Megan, a girl he had dumped. He left behind the best friend that he was just admitting to himself that he loved. Anna was left behind without a word. When Charlie comes back six years later, he has grown up and wants to make amends for his fast departure.

Things don't turn out quite the way Charlie had planned. Anna has moved on and isn't interested in having her heart broken again. She treats him with indifference. And when he goes to apologize to Megan's mother, he learns that she had been running around on him with another man. He also learns that someone has been sending her mother $500 every two weeks.

When a reporter who was looking into Megan's death also seemingly commits suicide, Charlie wonders about Megan's death. Who was it that Megan was seeing? Could it have been Anna's sister's husband and Charlie's good friend Nate?

When Anna's sister and nephew run off, Anna and Charlie have one more thing to investigate.Anna and Charlie find themselves on the run from someone shooting at them as they try to solve Megan's death and find Anna's sister and nephew.

This was a quick read and an entertaining one. ( )