About the Book

Book: Jacob’s Well

Author: Urcelia Teixeira

Genre: Christian Mystery & Suspense

Release Date: April 28, 2023

“A mother knows. At least, that’s what everyone told her. That she’d know when something was wrong. Feel it. Deep inside as if there was an invisible cord that had stayed behind the day she brought her son into this life.

Well, they were wrong. Dead wrong.

She didn’t know her son at all. But then, he didn’t know her either.”

Dark secrets swirl around the small coastal town of Weyport as Mary-Jean Foley discovers just how far she would go to protect her son.

Even with a new sheriff in town. Even when her husband doesn’t agree. Even when she thinks God isn’t looking.

But how far is too far and at what cost?

—

As newly appointed small-town Sheriff Angus Reid settles into Weyport, it doesn’t take him long to discover just how corrupt his new town is. With a desk full of suspicious open cases and too much to prove, he is determined to rid his town of crime and win the hearts of his people.

But when two teenagers suddenly go missing, it lays bare sinister secrets and emotional ties that threaten to derail his investigation.

And as the case untangles, the secrets buried deep within the coastal borders of the tight-knit community slowly bubble to the surface.

Determined to find justice for the missing boys and their families, he races against the clock to find them. Unbeknownst of the dark forces that rage against him.

Then he gets a call that a body has been found…

If you enjoy suspenseful, twisty secrets and lies mystery novels that are rooted in faith and leave your heart in your throat, you will have a hard time putting down this page-turning Christian mystery and suspense novel.

Get ready to be taken on an emotional journey through a town where it seems everyone has a secret.

Click here to get your copy!

My Thoughts:

This was quite a story of a small coastal town with plenty of secrets, even from those you would not expect it. This story is told through the viewpoint of three people, and it touches on a teen's rebellion, a mother's unrelenting love, and a new sheriff trying to uncover his town's secrets and make the place safe again.

On the outside, Jake seems to be a good kid. His mother and stepfather are involved heavily in the church, he takes care of his handicapped stepbrother, and he gets passable grades. But Jake sees how his parents are struggling with finances, his prospects for college don't look great, and he really doesn't have a close relationship with his stepfather, even though he raised Jake. So, Jake gets offered an opportunity to make money and help his family out. Except it is illegal and very dangerous. But he kind of likes the rush, until he doesn't.

Mary-Jean, MJ for short, looks like a great mother and wife. And that perception really matters to her. It gives her life meaning, until her son Jake goes missing. Then everything she valued in life, or thought she did, shifts. Even her marriage comes under fire as she sees that she and her husband are just surviving. What will she sacrifice to get her son back?

Sheriff Angus Reid knows all about sacrifice, and what sacrificing the wrong stuff can do to a family, marriage, and life. He is the new sheriff in Weyport and is shocked with how corrupt the previous sheriff was and what he let the villains get away with. Now he has two missing teenagers and something nefarious is going on in his town and he needs to get to the bottom of it.

This is a riveting suspense that kept me turning those pages as lives and the lies they told are at stake.

I was provided a copy of this novel from the author. I was not required to post a positive review and all views and opinions are my own.

About the Author

As the author of a dozen plus Christian suspense thrillers, Urcelia Teixeira writes to first and foremost, bring glory to God. Then, to delight, entertain, and encourage her readers by creating pulse-pounding stories that are infused with inspiration and biblical truths.

Readers have said her books are “addictive and impossible to put down!”

They describe her work as being “prolific and well written stories that keep you in suspense,” and love her “imagery and attention to detail” that swoop them into the minds of her characters ” as if watching a blockbuster movie!”

Many of her readers appreciate the clean action scenes and love that her “faith shines through in her writing as she stays true to herself, giving pause to contemplate.”

More from Urcelia

Many years ago God gave me a prophetic scripture through which He named me Hephzibah (meaning ‘My delight is in her’). Some time after that, life happened and for a long while I felt unworthy of that name. But, God showed me grace in this area for the nearly ten years that followed and, although I never aspired to be a writer, I wrote my first ever book on a bucket list whim in December 2017. Somehow it evolved into a series, but, while writing the fifth book in my Alex Hunt adventure thriller series, I felt the Holy Spirit nudging and directing me into using my God-given talent for enhancing His Kingdom instead. I obeyed and wrote the final book in that series, The Caiaphas Code, as my statement of faith before switching to writing Christian mystery and suspense instead. Two days later, the idea for Every Good Gift was born and the day I finished writing the last sentence of this book, I heard the Lord whisper in my ear, Hephzibah, Hephzibah, over and over. That has been the most noteworthy highlight of my short career so far: knowing that I have pleased God.

My heart and soul went into writing Jacob’s Well. I have three teenage sons, and raising them in a world filled with all kinds of temptation is not easy. They have to cope with so much more than we had to as kids: social media bullying, peer pressure to fit into a pretentious world that seems to intensify overnight, the lure of riches through online gaming or videos instead of education, to name but a few. But through the years, the pull of narcotics has remained the primary evil that threatens to destroy our children. I am blessed to have boys who aren’t scared to share their struggles with us and upon hearing a few of the stories about kids in their schools and our town, one of the main characters in Jacob’s Well was born. On the flip side, I have a mother’s heart and imagining what it would be like to watch your child go down the wrong path added in an entirely different element to the story, especially if that mother was a Christian. The spiritual and emotional battles that would rage within, the helplessness and desperation that come with wanting to do whatever it takes to save your son, the pride within your church community––these are all human responses. And that is how Mary-Jean Foley’s character was born.

Throw in a lawman and a villain in a coastal town where everyone has a secret and Jacob’s Well spilled out onto the pages!