Walking by Night by Kate Ellis

Walking by Night by Kate Ellis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fifth intriguing mystery in the atmospheric Joe Plantagenet police procedural series

Taking a short cut home beneath the ruined abbey in the centre of the city, a teenage girl reports stumbling across a body. She also claims to have seen a mysterious nun-like figure watching her from the shadows. But during the subsequent search, no body is found. The girl’s inebriated state and her troubled history make the police skeptical of her story, and only Detective Inspector Joe Plantagenet is inclined to believe her.

Then a woman is reported missing, and Joe finds himself caught up in a complex investigation involving a production of The Devils at the local Playhouse. Could the play, with its shocking religious and sexual violence, have something to do with the woman’s disappearance? And is there really a connection with the tragic death of a young nun at the site many centuries before? Nothing is as it first appears.

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I was very happy to get the chance to read the latest book in the Joe Plantagenet series. I have never read a book in the series before, but I have read a book in Kate Ellis's Wesley Peterson series and I loved that book. So, I was looking forward to reading this book very much. I liked Joe Plantagenet, he was an interesting character and the fact that he was supposed to have become a priest instead of a cop (Just like Hathaway in Lewis the TV-series) was intriguing. The story was interesting. I kind of narrowed it down to a couple of suspects towards the end, but I didn't figure out exact who the killer was before it's revealed.

I liked this book very much and I have owned the first book in this series and I'm looking forward to reading that one!

I received this copy from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review!

#BookReview The Witch of Painted Sorrows by M.J. Rose @mjrose @AtriaBooks

The Witch of Painted Sorrows by M.J. Rose
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Possession. Power. Passion. New York Times bestselling novelist M. J. Rose creates her most provocative and magical spellbinder yet in this gothic novel set against the lavish spectacle of 1890s Belle Époque Paris.

Sandrine Salome flees New York for her grandmother’s Paris mansion to escape her dangerous husband, but what she finds there is even more menacing. The house, famous for its lavish art collection and elegant salons, is mysteriously closed up. Although her grandmother insists it’s dangerous for Sandrine to visit, she defies her and meets Julien Duplessi, a mesmerizing young architect. Together they explore the hidden night world of Paris, the forbidden occult underground and Sandrine’s deepest desires.

Among the bohemians and the demi-monde, Sandrine discovers her erotic nature as a lover and painter. Then darker influences threaten—her cold and cruel husband is tracking her down and something sinister is taking hold, changing Sandrine, altering her. She’s become possessed by La Lune: A witch, a legend, and a sixteenth-century courtesan, who opens up her life to a darkness that may become a gift or a curse.

This is Sandrine’s “wild night of the soul,” her odyssey in the magnificent city of Paris, of art, love, and witchery.

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I have for a while now wanted to read an M.J. Rose book. The stories in the books have intrigued me and I love the covers for them. I was quite glad when I got the chance to read this new one.

I was quickly drawn into the story of this book about courtesans, witches, possessions, and passion. It was an intriguing story and very beautifully written. Sandrine starts out as a young woman in mourning for her father and for her failed marriage, but as the story progress she changes, she starts to paint and it consumes her. But as she learns more and more about her family's story about La Lune, the famous courtesan she slowly starts to lose herself to La Lune. Was La Lune a witch? A woman desperate to live again century's after her death? Sandrine's grandmother tries everything to keep her from the house, from painting. Everything that has to do with La Lune, but Sandrine is in love and love is the very thing that La Lune feeds on...

As I read on I soon got a feeling of doom about the ending. I just knew that this book couldn't end happy and the ending was...let's say I really want to read the next book in the series!

In the end, I just want to say that I’m I enjoyed reading The Witch of Painted Sorrow very much and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this series and other books that M.J. Rose has written.

Shadow Ritual by Eric Giacometti

Shadow Ritual by Eric Giacometti
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Two murders, one in Rome and one in Jerusalem brings detective Antoine Marcas and special agent Jade Zewenski, the head of security of the embassy in Rome together. Jade's friend Sophie is killed by three blows to her upper body. Her shoulder, her neck, and her head. In the same day, a man is killed in the same way in Jerusalem.

Zewinski is in no way pleased about working on the case with Marcas. She doesn't like anything that has to do with Freemason and Marcas is a member of the group. But as they work together they slowly starting to open up to each other.

They discover that the sect Thule is the ones behind the killings, and the sect has a deep hatred for anything Freemason and it seems that Thule is after an ancient Freemason secret.

This is my kind of book. A fast-paced adventure with secrets and mysteries and of course an evil old sect. I enjoyed reading this book very much. It was especially nice to have the main characters non-Americans. It feels like the hero in adventure's books often are American and it was nice to have both main characters, French. It was also great to have a female character that's tough and capable of taking care of herself. Even when she's about to be tortured. By the way, this book has a really nasty torture scene. It was also very fascinating learning more about the Freemasons, I didn't know they accepted female member, I thought it was an all boys club.

This was book two in a series of ten books and I'm looking forward to reading the rest if they get translated into English.

Race to Tibet by Sophie Schiller

Race to Tibet by Sophie Schiller
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My earliest memory of Tibet is probably reading Tintin in Tibet and years later I saw Seven Years in Tibet. So when I saw this book I just knew that I had to read it. Tibet is a country that iI find fascinating and I would love to visit it someday. But for now, I will be content my reading books about it.

The French explorer Gabriel Bonvalot sets as a goal in this book to be the first European person to visit Lhasa, the forbidden city in Tibet. Traveling with Bonvalot is also Prince Henri d'Orléans, whose father wants him gone from the country for a year since Henri has once again got his name in the newspaper, in a bad way. Along the way, Camille Dancourt joins the group. She is traveling to Tibet to search for her husband who went missing there. Bonvalot didn't want her to travel with them from the beginning, but she was quite determined to go there with or without him. So in the end, he yields. This will be an adventurous journey, filled with dangerous but also memorable encounters and experiences.

One thing that I thought about reading this book that I really never thought so much about before (I think) is how obnoxious we Europeans are when it comes to other people that have a different culture than we have. I feel that Bonvalot journey is very much like a small invasion of Tibet. Bonvalot wants to be the first European to visit Lhasa no matter what the people in Tibet feel about it and he will do anything to get there, for instance bribing people. Also, no one was willing to sell a horse to them so they stole one. How wrong isn't that? But they were quite desperate, it's a hard country and no matter how prepared they were, it still didn't go so well. But I still felt quite often that forcing their way into the country was wrong.

Sophie Schiller has written an interesting book. Even though I sometimes felt annoyance with the Europeans superior attitude I still wanted to know if they would get to Lhasa and would Camille find her husband?

The only drawback for me was that even though the book was good it wasn't a great read. There was something missing for me. It can be that I really didn't connect with the characters. But I liked reading it and I would recommend it.

The William Shakespeare Detective Agency: The School of Night by Colin Falconer

The William Shakespeare Detective Agency: The School of Night by Colin Falconer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

William Shakespeare has just arrived in London and his cousin isn't too fond to have him staying at his place. But William has dreams, he doesn't want to be a glove maker. He wants to be an actor. But all the theaters are closed because of the plague so he needs to find a job. Luckily for him, he gets a job after saving Lady Elizabeth Talbot. All he needs to do is find her husband Henry Talbot. How hard can it be?

This book was quite entertaining to read. I love historical mysteries and I just couldn't resist a book about William Shakespeare cousin with the same name. It was interesting to follow William Shakespeare as he searched for Talbot's husband and I was actually surprised how it all turned out. It was also nice to have the other William Shakespeare, the famous one, showing up in the story now and then. It wasn't a thick book, so it wasn't many red herrings, but it was a pleasant read I want to read the next book in the series.

The Stonehenge Letters by Harry Karlinsky

The Stonehenge Letters by Harry Karlinsky
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

What if Alfred Novel beside the usual prizes also had a "secret" prize for whoever could explain the origin of Stonehenge?

A psychiatrist stumbles over some letters from Nobel laureates with explanations for Stonehenge when he is researching why Freud never got a Nobel Prize.

Harry Karlinsky has really written a book that feels like it could be real. It really feels like reading a thesis and I had to double-check to see that this was fiction. Just to be sure. LOL I mean it sounded ludicrous, but hell, who knew.

The problem I had with this book was the thesis feeling. It made it very dry to read. The part of the book I liked best was actually the biographical part, getting to know the basic fact about Alfred Nobel, Marie Curie, Teddy Roosevelt and Rudyard Kipling. The whole Stonehenge part, the letters from the Nobel laureates was the dry part that and that was, unfortunately, since that is kind of the point of the book.

But it was interesting to read and I would very much read more about Alfred Nobel.

Thank you Edelweiss for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

The Dead Key by D.M. Pulley

The Dead Key by D.M. Pulley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I found it amazing that you could just shut down a bank and leave everything as it is for twenty years. That was a very interesting idea for a book. We get to follow Iris in the present time as she tries to unravel the bank's past and we also get to know Beatrice that worked at the bank in 1978, the year that the bank closed down. Slowly the mystery starts to unravel....

I liked the book, but I also find it sometimes a bit slow paced, not that it became boring. But it never really got me totally engrossed into the story. It was more my own willpower to read than the story that sometimes kept me going.

But still it was interesting. I wanted to know how it all came to be that the bank closed down. But I had some problems with the main characters. I just couldn't connect to either of them. Sometimes you like one character better when it is two different storylines, but in this case, I just felt that both just didn't get to me. Frankly the character that was most interesting was Maxine, Beatrice's friend.

It got a bit exciting towards the end when everything came together, but I was a bit disappointed about the ending. I turned the last page and that was it and I felt a bit let down.

But all and all it was a good read, the book was well written and the concept felt new.

Shadows Have Gone by Lissa Bryan

Shadows Have Gone by Lissa Bryan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Carly and Justin and the rest of the community seem to be safe for the moment. Marcus and his gang are all dead. But it seems that there is still a threat to them, a man from Justin's past...

This is the first book in the series that I have read and I'm a bit surprised how is it was to get into the story and to get to know the characters even though the book seems to pick up precisely where the book before left off. Carly and Justin and the people in the community they are living in are all survivors of a terrible virus that have killed off most of the human race. They are doing the best to live in a world that is just a shadow of itself. Gone are all the comforts of the modern world. But at least, they have in this little community each other and they will fight for it.

My plan was to read the previous books before I read this one, but the time ran out. It's funny how months to read books suddenly can disappear and suddenly you only have days left. But it was as I started before easy to get into the book and I immediately got caught up in the story and it wasn't that hard to begin to care for the characters and hoping for their survival. The ending was a bit nerve wracking I must admit, I never thought that the story would take that turn especially when you think about how they all had fought for a future. But it was a good ending.

This was a really good dystopian book and I'm looking forward to reading the books before this one.

Thank you Netgalley and The Writer's Coffee Shop Publishing House for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

Harm’s Reach by Alex Barclay

Harm’s Reach by Alex Barclay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

FBI Agent Ren Bryce finds herself entangled in two seemingly unrelated mysteries. But the past has a way of echoing down the years and finding its way into the present.

When Special Agent Ren Bryce discovers the body of a young woman in an abandoned car, solving the case becomes personal. But the more she uncovers about the victim’s last movements, the more questions are raised.

Why was Laura Flynn driving towards a ranch for troubled teens in the middle of Colorado when her employers thought she was hundreds of miles away? And what did she know about a case from fifty years ago, which her death dramatically reopens?

As Ren and cold case investigator Janine Hooks slowly weave the threads together, a picture emerges of a privileged family determined to hide some very dark secrets – whatever the cost.

**********

I enjoyed this book immensely, much thank to two extraordinary women that are a fantastic duo. I have been trying to think of two women working together that I like as much as I like Ren and Janine, but I can't think of any. The dialog between them are snappy and wonderful, just as between two best friends. Also, one thing that makes this book a bit different that other crime novels are the fact that Ren is bipolar and she is on medication, but that doesn't mean that she is cured so she has her moments in the book. Janine also seems to have some problems, I mean who spends time in the middle of the night laying a jigsaw? I haven't read the previous three books (yet) so I don't know her history. I only know that she is really anxious to lose her job and that is something that really troubled her in this book.

The case was also very interesting. I have a weakness for cold cases and it was interesting to see how all the pieces fell slowly into place and how things in the past came to influence the present time. Beside the case was it also interesting to see how Ren dealt with being bipolar. In the text, you could see her answers, but in italics, you could also see her thoughts and even though she is better you can tell that sometimes events make her very stingy. For instance, her telling her boyfriend about being bipolar was a big thing for her.

This is a great book. I ordered the next book after only reading 30% of it and I usually wait at least until the book is finished before I do that. I actually have ordered book two also so I'm looking forward getting them and getting to know Ren and Janine from the beginning.

I received a copy from the publisher and Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours in return for an honest review!

Three Days to Forever by Lauren Carr

Three Days to Forever by Lauren Carr
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

In this latest Mac Faraday Mystery from best-selling mystery author Lauren Carr, readers will embark on a rollercoaster adventure with old friends (including the Lovers in Crime team of Prosecutor Joshua Thornton and Homicide Detective Cameron Gates), but also meet new ones as Mac Faraday’s daughter Jessica Faraday and Joshua Thornton’s son Murphy Thornton join the team in the race to get the love birds to the altar!

With three days left to the year, Deep Creek Lake is hopping with holiday vacationers and wedding guests pouring into the Spencer Inn for Mac Faraday and Archie Monday’s huge wedding ceremony which is being touted as the social event of the year.

But droopy flowers and guests who failed to RSVP are the least of Mac’s and Archie’s problems when a professional hit squad hits Spencer Manor to send the groom, Joshua Thornton, Archie’s mother, and Gnarly running for their lives.

With time running out to the big day, Mac Faraday and Spencer’s small police force have to sort through the clues to figure out not only who has been targeted for assassination, but also who is determined to stop everything … FOREVER!

**********

This was one hell of a ride and I loved almost every minute of it!

This is the ninth book in the Mac Faraday Mystery series and the first one I've read, but I had no problems getting into the story, much thank to the character listing that was in the beginning of the book. It was very good to have because there were a lot of characters involved in this story and it wasn't always easy to keep track of everyone, for instance, who belonged to which family and so on.

Mac Faraday and Archie Mondays wedding is in three days, but a lot of things can happen during three days and believe me a lot of things did happen during the days. We got shootings, kidnappings, murders and to top everything terrorists out for blood. This was a non-stop action book, it happened things all the time and it was a real pleasure to read. The characters were all great. It was no problems reading this book even though I haven't read any of the previous ones, it only made me more determent to read all eight before this one so that I could get to know the characters more and figure out things that they mentioned that happened in the previous books.

The only thing that stopped me from giving it a 5 star rating was the instalove relationship between Jessica Faraday and Murphy Thornton; I mean I can understand that they could feel attracted to each other, but it went from hello to I love you in a blink of the eye and that is just something I can't take. Yes, I can take over the top action, but instalove there goes my limit. But besides that as this book a true joy to read!

I recommend this book to anyone that likes a fast-paced book!

The Keys of the Watchmen by Kathleen C. Perrin

The Keys of the Watchmen by Kathleen C. Perrin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Katelyn Michaels plans on hating every moment of her visit to Mont Saint Michel with her father’s new French wife. Once there, she is confused when she experiences sensations of déjà vu as she and her younger brother explore the medieval village and abbey. She is even more disturbed when she is confronted by two unusual young men, one who insists she has a sacred mission, and the other who will stop at nothing, even murder, to prevent her from fulfilling her destiny.

When the oddly-dressed but alluring Nicolas slips Katelyn a strange medallion, she is whisked back through time where her Watchmen hosts tell her she is the only hope to save Mont Saint Michel. Even worse, she learns that those trying to destroy the mount are led by a fallen angel intent on learning the mount's closely-guarded secret.

Katelyn is torn by feelings of anger at being taken back in time, inadequacy at finding a modern solution for a medieval problem, and responsibility for the mount’s starving inhabitants. She is also perturbed by her surprising attraction to the ill-tempered Nicolas. Will she stay to learn why she was chosen by the Archangel Michael and find a way to save his mount? 

**********

This book was really good. I was a bit afraid it would be a bit preachy in the beginning when they started talking about the Bible and fallen angels. Nothing wrong with that, but I have kind of read a little too much theology that I need a break from it. But after a while, my worry about it just melted way and I found myself really enjoying the story.

Katelyn Michaels is a wonderful character. She isn't perfect; she had problems adjusting to having traveled in time like any seventeen-year-old girl would have. Heck, I would have had problems with that. But after a while, she slowly starts to adapt, to mature and while she is stuck in the past trying to save Mont Saint Michel she also learns to forgive her father. In many ways, this trip to the past teaches this modern girl how to become a better person, less egocentric. It was interesting to read how Katelyn, Jean (the old Watchman, Nicholas teacher) and Nicholas worked together to save Mont Saint Michel, things that we take for granted, modern inventions can be really terrifying for people in the year 1424.

I was a bit torn about the Nicolas and Katelyn's relationship. It started with loathing and ending with them falling in love. Not instalove perhaps, but it went very quickly. But even I'm the world pickiest person when it comes to romance liked the couple towards the end.

I would have loved to know more about the medallion, how it came to be able to make someone travel in time. I wonder how it came to be for instance and have it ever been used before and why. Hopefully, the next book will explain more about the origin of the medallion.

Kathleen C. Perrin has written a very wonderful book about a young girl whose destiny is so much grander than she ever could expect and I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

The Long and Faraway Gone by Lou Berney

The Long and Faraway Gone by Lou Berney
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

I will start with saying that this was a really good book with a very interesting story or stories since it is actually two stories that parallel each other even though they take place in the same town.

Wyatt returns twenty-fives later to Oklahoma City. He has changed his name so we do not know among the people in the movie theater he was. If it weren't for his latest case would he probably have stayed as far away from Oklahoma City that could, but he owned a friend a favor so he is in the city and the memories come back to him. He can't let the movie theater murders while he investigates his case and he soon begins to question things about it.

Meanwhile, in the city is Julianna, the little sister of Genevieve. Genevieve disappeared a while before the murders and Julianna has never been able to let it go completely. Then, she finds out that the person that the police suspected the most for the disappearing is back in town.

It was really engrossing following these two lost souls in the city each with their own memories of a night twenty-five years earlier. I thought in the beginning that they would have more interactions, but the random encounters were much more interesting then that they would somehow meet and start to work together or something.

They are both damaged people, both with one memory that have shaped their lives, but not really able to live the lives to the fullest because they can't let the past go. Wyatt is asking a simple question; why? Why did he survive? Julianna is wondering what happened to her sister, why did disappear? Did someone take her?

A great read, I enjoyed it immensely!

Star Trek: The Original Series: Shadow of the Machine by Scott Harrison

Star Trek: The Original Series: Shadow of the Machine by Scott Harrison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This e-novella takes place after V'Ger (1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture) and before the next five-year mission.

The crew is on a two-week shore leave before the preparations for the next voyager starts and Sulu travelers home to his pregnant wife, Kirk goes home to Iowa to visit his family and Spock travelers to Vulcan to inform about his decision to not continue with the kolinahr ritual.

This short e-novella is perfect for TOS fans that don't mind reading stories taking place between or after major events like V'Ger. I can say that I was very pleased reading this one because I love getting a glimpse into the lives of the crew of the Enterprise, despite that nothing serious happens. But for Sulu, Kirk and Spock are these visits very important. Sulu is about to become a father and he knows that he will not be there for his child since he is only on Earth for two weeks. Kirk is visiting his aunt Hanna and uncle Abner and for important his nephew Peter who is in need of someone to talk to and Kirk himself isn't his old self since the loss of Ilia and Decker. Spock is going home, not to pick up the kolinahr ritual again instead he has decided not to deny his human side anymore. So in a way, this may not be earth-shattering events, but it is important for them.

A great short story that I recommend warmly!

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

#BookReview The Blue and the Grey by M.J. Trow

The Blue and the Grey by M.J. Trow
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

"Introducing 19th-century private investigators Matthew Grand and James Batchelor in the first of a brand-new historical mystery series."
April, 1865. Having been an eye witness to the assassination of President Lincoln, Matthew Grand, a former captain of the 3rd Cavalry of the Potomac, has come to London on an undercover assignment to hunt down the last of the assassin's co-conspirators. Ambitious young journalist Jim Batchelor has been charged with writing a feature article on the visiting American, with the aim of getting the inside story on the assassination. Both men are distracted from their missions by the discovery of a body behind the Haymarket Theatre in London s Soho district. It's the latest in a series of grisly garrottings by a killer known as the Haymarket Strangler.

As Grand and Batchelor team up to pursue their investigations through the dark underbelly of Victorian London, it becomes clear that there may be a disturbing connection between the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the Haymarket Strangler.

**********

This is the first book in a planned historical mystery series and what a great first book it was. Matthew Grand and Jim Batchelor are an excellent team, and it was great fun watching poor Grand trying to get used to London and its different "language" just a simple thing like ordering muffins at a coffee house and not at all getting the American muffin you excepted. Hell, I would have been confused as well.

But even though I liked both Grand and Batchelor I actually like Inspector Tanner the best, there was just something about the man I just liked as soon as he was introduced into the story and I hope he will get a larger part in the future books.

It was an enjoyable book to read, a good introduction to a new series. The cases were OK, not earth-shattering, I mean I wasn't that surprised when the culprits were revealed. There was no "OMG I didn't see that coming" moment. I think back in my head I was already a bit suspicious when it came to the killers. I mean there wasn't that many to pick from and it is seldom the first person that the police suspect.

The Blue and the Grey was a nice historical mystery book, precisely the kind I like to read and I'm looking forward to the next one!

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!

Onward Toward What We're Going Toward by Ryan Bartelmay

Onward Toward What We're Going Toward by Ryan Bartelmay
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm kind of amazed that I, in the end, gave this book a 3 star rating because there were times when I thought that the book was a bit boring to read, mostly because sometimes I just couldn't see a point to the story really and also that I just couldn't really like the characters, well except Lomax, but he was not long for the world. But somehow, I liked the book, just because it was so odd.

We get to follow Chic, both as a young man and as an old man in parallel storylines. So while we follow his life as a newlywed man we also get to know him as an old man in a retirement home. We also get to know his wife Diane, his brother Buddy and his wife Lijy and in later life we get to know Mary a woman that will play a new role in Chic's life.

WARNING SPOILERS

The story in this is sometimes just incredibly weird and they make decisions that just seem stupid. like Lijy getting pregnant with another man's baby, convincing Chic that it's better that Buddy thinks it's Chic's baby. I mean come on? But I still needed to find out what happens to the characters so I kept reading just to get answers to questions like will Russ, Lijy's son by the other man know who his real father is? Will Chic ever be happy? What will happen to them all? It's like reading a soap opera.

END OF SPOILERS

So in the end, 3 stars, despite being a bit boring sometimes, despite lacking any really likable characters (aww poor Lomax that he had to die so young). This book is about ordinary slightly odd characters that make decisions that sometimes seems completely stupid. Just like real people...

Thank you Piatkus for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

Haunted Plantations of the South by Richard Southall

Haunted Plantations of the South by Richard Southall
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Richard Southall has compiled a book about haunting's in plantations in America. He has done a very good work, listed the plantations in different states. So here we have haunted plantations from South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and so on. All very neatly put together, Every plantation is described; its history and its ghosts. Very academic and also a bit boring to read.

It really feels like reading a thesis. Some histories were kind of interesting to read, especially the very tragic ones, women waiting for a soldier never to return to her and so on, but hell, this is about ghosts and the book bored me because everything was so clinical and dispassionate.

Also, I missed images in the book. I hope the finished book will have images of the plantations, even if they are burned down and in ruin. It would have been much more interesting to read if one had some images to go with the story.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

In Flames by Richard Hilary Weber

In Flames: A Thriller by Richard Hilary Weber
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Dan Shedrick takes a job as a junior architect at an American firm in San Iñigo and it doesn't take him long before he starts an affair with the wife of a resort owner. But then everything goes south when a radio personality is murdered...

This is a short book, I read it quickly, but it has taken me ages to write this review. Usually, I try to write the review as soon as possible while everything is fresh in my head. But I had quite a lot of time before this review would be up and frankly I have put it off a bit. I still try to grasp what the point of the book was. I thought the murder was the important part when I started reading the book, but now I'm not sure. Is this a spy novel? Is this some kind of first-love-gone-bad-book? I have actually no idea; it didn't feel like a thriller. It felt that the book was built up by a lot of descriptions and way too long dialogs.

I still don't understand why the radioman was killed. There was never really an explanation for it. I just wished the book had focused on the murder, got an explanation for it. Skipped the spying and the kidnapping part or at least made it more in tuned with the rest of the story. It would probably also has been a good idea to make Dan a more interesting a likable character, what did he do all the day? Work? No idea, he seemed just to drink rum and sleep with his lover all the time...

This book left me with a feeling of dissatisfaction. If it would have been longer and the story more explored would it have been a much more enjoyable reading experience.