Since All Is Passing by Elizabeth Delisi

 When Marie Kenning witnesses the kidnapping of a child, she relives the horror of the death of her own child and husband.

Officer Chris Whitley takes on the case—and an interest in Marie—but evidence quickly indicates the child is dead.

Days later, Marie stumbles across the kidnapper and his very-much-alive victim. Unable to convince the man she loves of the truth, Marie sets out alone on a dangerous cross-country mission to save the child.

The brilliance of this author was evident in this short novel. Normally it would have been a longer book to get this level of drama and suspense but she was able to do it in less than 200 kindle pages and it was done in a well written and consistent way. Every word on these pages had a meaning and purpose.  I never once felt like she was using fillers to segment into the next scene, it was all purpose driven and done so smoothly I found it hard to even put the book down.  

Marie was the kind of woman most of us mothers can relate to.  She lost her husband and child six years ago to the hands of a drunk driver.  Is there ever enough punishment for such a crime?  I don’t think so, but at least she hoped for justice.  Needless to say justice was not served and she was left with the broken heart and shattered dreams of what used to be her life.  Her future consisted of depression and sitting at the same café watching the beautiful red headed girl go to school.  She could dream of what her child would have looked like if she had been given a chance to live by watching this precious one each day. 

One day she watched that little girl named Rebecca, being kidnapped and her world shattered again.  The overwhelming sense of being helpless against crime and evil took over.  When Officer Chris Whitley came to take her statement, he also offered her another chance at romance.  Could this end up in love?  It was too hard for her to tell because her mind was on saving that little girl.  Her hands felt tied once again and the powerlessness was soul consuming.  Thank goodness Chris was able to give her hope and they would work constantly going over the scene again and again in hopes that maybe one little detail would spark a trail for him to go on.

Out of the clear blue, she was confronted with that detail they needed.  She was going to have to make a quick decision as to what to do next in order to bring Rebecca home.  It will put Marie in danger but what does she have to live for if she doesn’t at least try. This was action packed and had me gripping the kindle till my knuckles were white.  I couldn’t read fast enough to satisfy the strong desire to see what happened next. 

What I loved most about this book was it came across as realistic.  I could see myself in Marie’s shoes, never losing that motherly need to protect the young and innocent.  Persky was a natural at being evil.  He wasn’t over the top sensational for purpose of selling the book, what he was guilty of was something that we could read in every newspaper around the country. I walked away with the message that we should never rule out the courage and power we have inside when pushed against the wall.  Also healing comes from many different things.  I am sure Marie never thought that watching Rebecca would one day help to heal her soul and bring love back into her life.  If I had been a friend of Marie’s I would have tried to get her to stop living in the past long before the day of the kidnapping, but in her own way, her grieving process turned out to be the exact thing that would change a tiny part of the world.  Great job to the author, I will certainly be looking for more of her work in the future and this story will stay with me for a very long time.

Amazon US || Barnes & Noble || ARe

Elizabeth Delisi is a multi-published, award-winning author of romance, mystery and suspense. Her time-travel romance set in ancient Egypt, LADY OF THE TWO LANDS, won a Bloody Dagger Award and was a Golden Rose Award nominee. Her romantic suspense novel, SINCE ALL IS PASSING, was an EPPIE Award finalist and Bloody Dagger Award finalist. FATAL FORTUNE, a paranormal mystery, was a Word Museum Reviewer’s Choice Masterpiece. Elizabeth's contemporary romance novella The Heart of the Matter is featured in the Valentine's Day-themed anthology CUPID’S CAPERS and was an EPPIE Award finalist. A Carol of Love is part of HOLIDAY HEARTS anthology and an EPPIE Award finalist. A Cup of Christmas Charm is part of HOLIDAY HEARTS 2 anthology and was also an EPPIE Award finalist. Elizabeth also has a short story collection available, THE MIDNIGHT ZONE.

Elizabeth is a writing instructor for Writer’s Digest University. She has taught creative writing at the community college level, has worked as a copy-editor for several small publishers, and has been a newspaper reporter and columnist. She invites readers to visit her web page: www.elizabethdelisi.com