Unveiling the Past

Vogel’s overwrought and heavy-handed follow-up to Bringing Maggie Home depicts the trials of a devout Christian marriage. Meghan and her husband Sean are partners in the Arkansas Cold Case Investigations Department in Little Rock, Ark., and have come to a crossroads in their three-year marriage. Sean is ready to start a family, but Meghan, burdened by a tumultuous childhood, refuses to discuss the topic. Then Meghan gets a case involving the disappearance of a father and son 20 years ago, and she discovers her own absentee father very conveniently lives in the town where she has come to investigate. Meghan’s father’s attempts at mending his relationship with her mother and the distance from Sean cause Meghan to question her identity as wife, daughter, and believer in God. More than a few readers will be turned off by the strictly traditional roles Sean and Meghan adhere to within their marriage, and Sawyer overfills her otherwise satisfying plot with biblical references. This is an easy one to miss. Agent: Tamela Hancock Murray, Steve Laube Agency (Apr.)