Suspicion by Joseph Finder, a Mysterious Review.

Review: Daniel Goodman is a single parent since his wife’s death. He has tried to do everything in his power to make Abby, his teenaged daughter, happy, including keeping her in an exclusive school which he cannot afford. When Abby befriends a new girl at school, Jenna Galvan, the nightmare for Danny and Abby begins, in Suspicion, a stand-alone novel of suspense by Joseph Finder.

Jenna is the daughter of one of Boston’s wealthiest families. To the delight of their daughters, Tom Galvan and Danny immediately hit it off and became friends. Tom seems to be aware of Danny’s financial situation and, offering the excuse of keeping his own daughter happy, offers Danny $50,000.00 to cover Jenna's tuition and living expenses. At first Danny refuses the offer with thanks, but Frank insists. Believing he has no other options, Danny accepts the money but only as a loan, promising to pay him back. But as soon as the money is in Danny’s account, men from the DEA come knocking at his door. They tell him that Tom is a money launderer with a Mexican drug cartel and as Danny has nothing more than a handshake agreement with Tom that the money was a loan, he could be arrested as an accomplice. The alternative: spy on and obtain pertinent information that would stand up in court to convict his new benefactor. From that moment on Danny and Abby’s lives are in danger.

The cartel immediately seems to know there is a leak, and seem to be looking at Danny as the source. He know they will stop at nothing to plug it, even abducting, maybe even killing his daughter. Digging deeper for information to supply to the men from the DEA, he discovers a rival drug cartel that is trying to establish a base, and they, too, offer Danny an offer that he would be unwise to ignore. What can he do to extract himself from this situation and protect the daughter he loves?

There is a lot to like about Suspicion, from its well-drawn characters to its relentless tension and nonstop suspense. But it does require the reader take a giant leap of faith at the start, to accept Danny's actions — from keeping his daughter in a school that he simply cannot afford to accepting a large sum of money from a complete stranger — without question, as hard as that might be. Once the premise is accepted, however, this is a thrill ride like no other, up to and including the surprise ending.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Suspicion.