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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
Eclipse by Alex Croft is the fifth installment of the Ravens Nest series, preceded by The Pathway, Retribution, Convergence, and Anarchy. Set in the small and seemingly idyllic waterfront town of Ravens Nest, Teresa Atkins is settling in with her children and their newest family member, a lab named Rogue, following her divorce. Despite her having hidden the significance of her financial situation from a husband nobody in her family seemed to trust, he's privy to what Teresa has and will stop at nothing to make a grab. Teresa's sister, Jessica, hires contractors to keep her sister safe. Ultimately, the task falls to Emma Finch, the daughter of two prominent activists who need protecting themselves, with trouble erupting concurrently in the Ravens Nest community.
Alex Croft does an excellent job weaving together story lines and plots in Eclipse. Ravens Nest is depicted to near perfection, its characters coming to life with qualities and quirks that make them feel wholly authentic. While this novel is part of a long-running series (with recurring characters mixed in with fresh faces), it reads comfortably as a standalone. I really loved that this character-driven suspense allowed for altering perspectives and points of view, and tied together plots that run parallel. Emma was my favorite character—strong but flawed, independent but fragile—and Croft draws her female protagonists with a believability that only a skilled hand can. Rook is also an interesting character with his own family issues, but for all he brings to the table, Emma is the hero we need to see in modern literature...and Alex Croft delivers with all the panache a reader looks for in a series like Ravens Nest.
