Her feature articles have appeared in CrimeReads, Suspense magazine, and Mystery & Suspense magazine.

Previous creative incarnations include actress, playwright, drama critic, and Copy Director for two major Manhattan publishing companies. Debbie is also the author of “Adventures in Copywriting” that appeared in Making the Perfect Pitch: How to Catch a Literary Agent’s Eye. First Victim, her second novel, was a Buzz Book of 2022. I feel like I read the second half of the book in half the time it took me to read the first half! The story did tie in a lot of the details the author developed in the first half such that it became much more clear why a lot of the beginning build up was needed.Debbie Babitt is the author of Saving Grace, named One of the Most Anticipated Thrillers of 2021 by She Reads and voted a Best Debut of 2021 by Suspense magazine. The action really gets moving in the second half of the book and the author managed some twists that I definitely did not see coming. The author really does a fantastic job of throwing in mini cliffhangers at the end of the sections that keep you wanting more! There are hints about what happened to Mary Grace and her friend all those years ago that kept me intrigued, but we’re meeting a lot of characters and have a lot of questions between the two timelines of the book. The first half I would say is a very slow burn. This is a book that took me a while to settle into. Assumptions run wild when another young girl disappears. The town is thrown into turmoil when a Black drifter returns to town (a man many believe to have killed the missing girls, though there was no evidence to support it).

In the present day Mary Grace is grown up and the sheriff of Repentance. When a new girl comes to town, Mary Grace finally has a friend until that friend disappears without a trace and another schoolmate goes missing as well. At school she was bullied and she didn’t seem to fit in anywhere. She was orphaned at 11 years old and sent to live with relatives who took her in, but didn’t provide the most loving of homes.

Main character Mary Grace firmly believes that she has evil within, though the reader doesn’t initially know why. As the name implies, it is a place heavily indoctrinated in Biblical teaching and the reality of good vs. SAVING GRACE is set in the small town of Repentance in rural Alabama. I received a complimentary copy of SAVING GRACE by Debbie Babitt from the publisher Scarlet Suspense as part of a Let’s Talk Books promotional tour! Rating: 3.5 / 5

Saving Grace by Debbie Babitt