Not long before their wedding day, Nelson Thornburg was killed in a tragic car accident. Less than an hour before, his last words to Lydia Pearl had been "I'm alive" as he shrugged his shoulders, suggesting that was the only good thing he could think of in his life. Because of those precise words, Lydia couldn't help but to wonder if he was truly still alive. Perhaps it was an encrypted message. It had been a closed casket funeral, so she didn't get the closure provided by witnessing that he was indeed gone. Furthermore, everything about his work life had been secretive and she swore she had seen Nelson several times since the accident. Or was that just her mind playing disturbing tricks on her?After Nelson's death, Lydia opened the box of jewelry he had given her several weeks prior and discovered an encrypted message. "I'm Alive" was engraved on one of the pieces of jewelry, and it also appeared in a letter that sounded as if it was written after the accident. With Lydia's life unraveling before her and struggling in the depths of grief, she discovered she was pregnant and felt forced to marry her high school sweetheart just to create a family environment for her child. It didn't help that her new husband, Brett, was involved in some business he described as similar to the Secret Service and his life was shrouded in mystery as well. He was, however, holding up his end of the bargain and together, through the years, Brett, Lydia, and her twins created a nearly perfect family life.Nearly. She'd known that someone was following her and her twins throughout the years, but it wasn't until after the children were grown that Lydia inadvertently discovered that her husband and some of his associates were her stalkers. They'd even bugged her cell phone, always knew her whereabouts, and more. She'd always known there was something strange about Brett's colleagues. Once you met one of them, the visages were so similar you might as well have met them all.With this knowledge, her marriage ended, and finally she had the time to dive into her own detective work, so she set out on a mission to find out if Nelson was truly still alive, or to at least figure out what business he had been in.A series of adventures ensues, with Lydia acting out of character as a full-fledged ninja detective. At last, Lydia has her answer about Nelson and is able to move forward with her life. Moving forward doesn't turn out the way she'd imagined. This is where the novel takes another very mysterious turn as it concludes, setting up the second novel in this series and forcing readers to jump to conclusions before they're able to read I'm Alive Too.
