Indelible by Kristen Heitzmann - A Review

I don't think I've had a harder time, so far, coming up with a review for a book. Indelible is a romantic suspense novel by a Christian author. The Christian aspects of the story were very low key, at least to me. The title refers to the main character Natalie Reeve who has an eidetic memory that imprints a person's face and all their inner being indelibly in her mind. Her only method of removing the image is to sculpt it immediately into clay. Because of this she rarely looks at anyone's face and thus comes across as evasive. However, if she does look at someone she can see beyond the surface and her stare is hyper focused which makes anyone she does look at extremely uncomfortable.

She meets our hero, Trevor MacDaniel when he rescues her nephew from the jaws of a young mountain lion. Trevor battles his own personal demons. Thus, you have two flawed protagonists who must overcome their past and current issues in order to connect emotionally.

Then interjected into the story of Natalie and Trevor is a weird inner dialogue and passages from an obscure book. I had to go read other reviews before I knew that the passages were from Paradise Lost by John Milton. A poem I had never read and, frankly, have no intention of reading. I found these interjections to be distracting, disjointed and had a difficult time even comprehending how this twisted person even fit into the story.

You are never introduced to this deeply troubled individual. You are given clues to his personality through his ramblings but it's not until you get three quarters through the book that you have any idea why he's doing what he's doing. It's the last few chapters that really explain who he is and it's not until then that you have any understanding or sympathy as to why this person does what he does.

I also found the relationship between Trevor and his former girlfriend to be quite disturbing. She is married and has a child yet she is constantly worrying about him and getting in his business, etc. This is not a romantic relationship that has turned into a pseudo sibling connection. It definitely came across, to me, as someone who just wouldn't let go. Honestly, if I'd been her husband, I would not have been as complacent as he was for so long.

I did not enjoy this style of writing at all. I really didn't like the ending either. I won't tell you why because if you intend to read the book my reasons could spoil the story for you.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group does not require a positive review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.