Concrete Evidence

By: DiAnn Mills

Narrated by: Barbara McCulloh

Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

On the family’s Brazos River Ranch in Texas, Avery Elliott helps run her grandfather’s commercial construction business. Raised by Senator Elliott, Avery has never doubted her grandfather is the man of integrity and faith she’s always believed him to be . . . until the day she finds him standing with a gun over the body of a dead man. To make matters worse, Avery’s just discovered a billing discrepancy for materials supposedly purchased for construction of the Lago de Cobre Dam.

Desperate for answers, Avery contacts FBI Special Agent Marc Wilkins for help. As Marc works to identify the dead man Avery saw, threats toward Avery create a fresh sense of urgency to pinpoint why someone wants to silence her. With a hurricane approaching the Texas coast and the structural integrity of the Lago de Cobre Dam called into question, time is running out to get to the bottom of a sinister plot that could be endangering the lives of not only Avery and her loved ones but the entire community.

©2022 DiAnn Mills (P)2022 Recorded Books

A Mystery, Murder and Rock Hard Faith

DiAnn Mills weaves a fine web of intrigue with words that paint detailed scenes,engaging characters, and families of faith. Concrete evidence presents a solid plot and a beliable murder mystery. In this book the faith message for me speaks of broken families trusting God in difficult times.

Concrete Evidence

DiAnn Mills is one of my go to authors in Christian suspense. I believe this is my favorite of her books so far. The characters and plot was easy to follow. She added plenty of red herrings and I enjoyed that. Looking forward to more by her, great narrator.

Intricate plot where everyone's a suspect

WOW. DiAnn Mills has written an excellent suspense novel with an intricate plot where everyone's a suspect and danger is around every turn. I had no inkling of whodunit and was embarassingly off the mark.

The premise of CONCRETE EVIDENCE really intrigued me as I have been a dam widow when my husband was a project manager for a reservoir and dam build in south Texas. He frequently traveled there as it was built and then inspected (and reinspected and reinspected) to finally open years after ground was broken. I remember when Hurricane Harvey hit how dams and reservoirs in the Houston area failed (not my husband's! I swear!). Serious business.

There are a plethora of characters, plots, and sub-plots to keep readers engaged, but fear not! Mills does a great job looping readers back in with reminders of who's who and what's what and plenty of red herrings that keep us enthralled and guessing.

"God doesn't cause a demolition unless He's planned a renovation."

But CONCRETE EVIDENCE is not all mystery and suspense; threaded between the murders and mayhem are tender moments of love and a steady stream of messages of faith. I appreciate that several characters actively pray when things get rough -- and that it's not always an easy thing for them to put their worries in God's hands. Also, throughout the story, characters often mention the benefit and importance of seeking professional counseling when life's burdens get too heavy. These pieces are organically included in the story and never feel false or preachy.

Parallel to the hurricane that is developing and threatening to unleash itself over Texas are the events unfolding and building tension for readers. The action-packed final chapters left this reader satisfied and relieved as I was able to let go of that breath I'd been holding. Terrific! I’ll eagerly await the next Christian fiction adventure Mills has in store.

ABOUT THE NARRATION: This narration didn't work for me at all. McCulloh's delivery felt stilted with odd gaps and pauses that didn't fit natural speech patterns -- and there's not a trace of a Texas accent in this very-Texas book. I could never find a comfortable speed for listening. 1x was painfully slow and unnatural; 1.3x was better but still off with those gaps. Additionally, there was very little change in voices, and without the visual cues of dialogue, it was very difficult to determine who was speaking. Fortunately, I had an eBook copy I frequently referred to (thank you, WhisperSync), but I would have preferred to have read this in print and honestly feel like the audio version does a disservice to the novel. Disappointing when CONCRETE EVIDENCE is such a stellar story.

Good, interesting & clean story

It was an enjoyable listen, but should be added to Christian category. Lots of God, Jesus and prayer going on which was fine. I just found it inserted in some places that it seemed to interrupt the flow. Overall, it was an interesting story line with lots happening.

A Good Read

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would read another book by the same Author and wold recommend it to others.

Great book audio disappointing

I love Diann Mills. She is a wonderful author and the book was what you would expect from her. However, the narrator ruined it for me. The voices were not really discernible between characters. They added no life to the book and if anything took a way from the story. It’s one of those books that I wish I had read the hard copy.

Great Storyline!

This was a really good storyline. While the narrator’s voice is pleasant to listen to, she did not distinguish between characters enough, if at all. It was frustrating and very distracting because, instead of listening to the details, the listener is left to try to figure out who is talking. This caused me to lose a lot of the story and took away greatly from the enjoyment of the listening experience.

It’s ok

Story was a little predictable and uninteresting. I would have liked more intrigue and less romance.