Review - The Baker's Wife

Title: The Baker's Wife
Author: Erin Healy
Publisher: Thomas Nelson, Pg 352
Publication Date: October 4, 2011
Format: Trade Paperback
Genre: Christian Fiction Suspense Paranormal
Source: Amazon Vine

Not too long ago, the question of being gob-smacked by a book came up and I could not recall an incident that had done that to me in a very long time. Then the Baker’s Wife came along and bam, midway through the book and I was questioning what I had missed. Went back to the first chapter and there it was. I did not realize the foreshadowing until it hit me right upside the head. Usually, I am a little better than that, but this time I was caught completely off guard.

Erin Healy has a way of giving a little, letting it stew in your brain and then two or three chapters later explains the parts that you did not know. The interactions of people and their back-stories make you pay closer attention as the layers slowly peel away.

Audrey Bofinger, called by God to be a comfort to others has not always had an easy life, but when a story surfaces about her husband the Pastor of a small church and the questionable acts of their son’s girlfriend, Audrey and Geoff are forced to leave the sanctity of their church and open a small bakery in town.

Early one morning while driving with her son in dense fog, Audrey hits a scooter owned by Julie Mansfield, the wife of the man that ran them out of the church and the father of her son’s girlfriend, leaving nothing but the mangled ruins and blood. Where is the driver of the scooter? Julie Mansfield has a few secrets of her own and when a newly released murderer comes to town searching for forgiveness, their lives intersect with shocking force and each person will have to find forgiveness from those that they have hurt the most.

The Baker’s Wife is a Christian Fiction Suspense book with a wee bit of paranormal thrown in. The paranormal part might throw some people off since it seems to appear in strange ways, but if you can get passed the woo-woo with your dose of scripture, this is a book that will hold your attention and have you flabbergasted at the same time.

The ending does not have the spark or intensity of the first two thirds of the book, but maybe that is just me and others will love it to the end. There just seemed to be something missing, as if the author ran out of ways to surprise the reader. You will not like all the characters in this book, and you are not meant to. Some take a very twisted view with their interpretations, some lie as easily as they breath and some relish in their role as victim. However, all bring something to the table and you as the reader will take something away.