Inescapable by Nancy Mehl

An enjoyable mystery with a Mennonite twist! Lizzie Engel left Kingdom, Kansas when she was eighteen, a single mother with a baby, feeling rejected and judged by her family and the townspeople of her small Mennonite community. Living in Kansas City, she's made a life for herself and her daughter, but she starts to receive threatening blue notes and has noticed an orange car following her. She's soon fired from her job, accused of embezzling funds and threatened with criminal charges. With threats to her daughter's safety from both sides, she decides to return to Kingdom where she figures no one will be able to find her. She and her daughter flee to Kingdom where she's not sure of what kind of welcome she will receive, but ends up pleasantly surprised. After getting a job and a place to stay, she and her daughter start to settle in and are getting reacquainted with the family and friends she left behind. Then a body appears and soon after, she receives another blue note.

There's some romance to the story, too, when she runs into Noah Housler, who she used to be best friends with when she was younger. Her daughter insists he looks just like Prince Philip from their favorite movie Sleeping Beauty, to her mortification. To complicate matters, another man from her past reappears and she's not sure who she can trust. Will she turn back to the God she rejected and trust Him for her future?

Nancy Mehl writes this book in the first person, so we really get inside Lizzie's head. Her daughter made me laugh many times; she had such cute and funny things to say. This is the first book I've read featuring Mennonites and found it interesting to learn about their culture and religious beliefs. I did get frustrated with Lizzie's naivete concerning a choice she makes, but I had to remind myself that she grew up in this small town for eighteen years and probably couldn't really fathom how evil someone could be. However, you'd think after a dead body shows up, she would have been a little more careful! Overall, very enjoyable and I'm looking forward to book two of Road to Kingdom out next year.

Thanks to Bethany House for the free review copy that I received in exchange for my honest review.

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