Hostage Negotiation Special Agent April Ramos is reeling from a negotiation gone bad, resulting in a suicide. She stops by a donut shop on her way home to soothe some of the ache. A young lady behind her in line hands April a screaming baby, says she can't take it any longer and flees the shop. April thinks the lady has gone to get her diaper bag, but when the lady doesn't return, April walks outside. Running down the sidewalk straight toward April is Jason Snyder, yelling that the child is his baby. He scoops up the child and demands to know who April is and how she got the baby.

When he discovers that April is an FBI agent, Jason takes her hostage, at gunpoint, in order to help him solve both the kidnapping of his child and a murder for which he has been accused. He watched his best friend and business partner be shot to death in his own office, but the local sheriff has doctored the paperwork to make Jason look like the killer. Now the hostage negotiator has become the hostage, and Jason is a falsely accused criminal of the run. Can it get any worse for either of them? Can they prove Jason's innocence, find the real killer, and prove the corrupt sheriff is involved in all of it before the sheriff finds them?

Diann Mills always gives us a good police procedural with her FBI series of stories, but BURDEN OF PROOF is over the top! It has a unique and creative storyline that will hook you from the beginning and keep you hanging on to the end ... a plot filled with one strange twist after another. April and Jason are strong main characters, surrounded by a plethora of supporting characters, some are good, some we know are bad and some are questionable at best. Ms. Mills fills the pages of this inspirational novel with a lot of spiritual insight, reflected in the dialogue and in the characters' thoughts. This is a story about trust, hopelessness and life's tragedies. None of us are sheltered from the ugliness of life, but Jason has had more than his fair share. It is also a story about forgiveness, healing and moving on, about relinquishing daily control to God. If you're a fan of this genre, do not miss this one ... there's even a little romance splashed across the pages!