Farraday Road by Ace Collins

Kaitlyn and Elijah "Lije" Evans were shot and left for dead in their SUV one day on Farraday Road. Police deputy Mikki Stuart, a childhood friend of Lije's, found them. Kaitlyn is dead; Lije is still alive.
Diana Curtis, ABI agent, begins working with Lije to see what he remembered about the shooting. All he remembers is his wife's screams. Eventually, they discover that the murder has something to do with Swopes Ridge, an estate Kaitlyn has recently purchased. The previous owner was also found dead.
Swopes Ridge is an estate shrouded with mystery and intrigue. Legend says a treasure is hidden in a cave that's on the property, but no one's ever found it.
Now someone is trying to protect the property with their lives.
This book would be really interesting were it not for two things-the fact that it's continued and the lack of purpose in the book.
First of all, the book is continued with a cheesy "to be continued" note at the bottom of the last page. This whole book is spent setting up the next one. And though this mystery is slow going and realistic, there is a lack of purpose in the book.
Which brings me to the second point.
The book spends about 200 pages on the mystery, and when Diana finds a major clue in the case, the author makes an 180 degree turn for the worst. Lije and Diana begin looking for the treasure of Swopes Ridge with a local doctor and stumble upon a locomotive inside a cave.
They proceed to recklessly try to start it, and end up facing a dangerous gunman who just disappears without shooting.
It seems like Ace Collins was trying to fill up the rest of the book so he didn't have to go into greater detail about the major clue. He tried desperately to make this book continued, and he succeeded.
There are other problems, such as bad characters and the potential for a replacement romance.
Also, there is a very brief subplot about a detective investigating a con artist who is making people pay him to research the "false" deaths of their military loved ones. This is very brief, as I said, and adds absolutely nothing to the plot.
Needless to say, I am not very excited about the sequel.
2 stars