Dire Means Book

Moves along briskly enough but requires a large dollop of suspended disbelief. The overall scenario and establishment response it a shade too much to swallow although the writing style is readable but needs sharpening.
The characters are a trifle thin and a few could be dismissed entirely, or their actions limited, which might tighten up the whole tale. For instance, Uncle Leon takes a hunk of text and yet adds very little to the story overall. (Favors {UK favours} explanation takes up several Kindle pages and goes nowhere relevant). Neva has a drawn out prayer session that could be reduced from several pages to a paragraph and not lose anything.
There is also a lot of minor detail that reduces the chance of letting the reader's imagination give its own colour. The sort of thing like, 'Despite the crisp coastal evening air, the sidewalks bustled with shoppers.' This is fine and sets the scene. The reader can fill in the detail unconsciously. The next sentence does the opposite of its intention and curtails rather than allows the picture to develop in the reader's head. 'Some carried shopping bags while others sipped steaming drinks cupped with both hands...etc.'
Occasionally adverbs detract from the crispness: 'absolutely delicious', 'absolutely amazing', 'absolutely fine', absolutely adorable', 'absolutely exquisite' to name but a few.
Despite the cavils, the observation is good and the flow is maintained, the plot is merely a little ambitious and the editing too light.