Neil Low's Thick as Thieves Reviewed

Review of Thick As Thieves

By Neil Low

Reviewed by R. Murry

Mr. Low’s writing of Alan Stewart’s becoming an adult is persuading, where you cannot feel for the character and his plight.   Moving through each fast pace chapter after chapter, the reader is involved and can emphasize with the illegal decisions Alan makes through happenstance – one primary choice after another.

His father, a union detective in Seattle, Washington, is murdered.  This is the starting point of Alan’s self-imposed resolution to avenge his father’s brutal killing by local thugs.  In his quest, he investigates the comings and goings of his father, leading him to the union’s door.

He resolves that they are not the culprits, after kind, honest encounters with Mr. Brinkman, the union’s boss, who turns out to be a critical key in Alan’s development into adulthood.  And here is where he meets Vic, his father’s ex-partner, who becomes Alan’s mentor in street smarts, sex, crime, and murder – all on a higher moral standard than the real criminals that are out to get them.

Of course, there is money involved.  Greed and power are the motivators of the thugs’ leader, who is one of Seattle’s finest and can’t shake his Prohibition persona.  In those days, the moral ground was falsely taken by the police.   He is after thousands of gold certificates that he believes Alan’s father McAlister and Vic have – an another subplot that brings about the clashes of the law against the union.

How does this unravel?  Does Alan avenge his father’s murder?  Well, I’ll let you read the exciting collision of good vs. evil – not legal vs. illegal. 

                                      

Mr. Low does leave you hanging in a right way on a couple of minor points so you’ll read this sequel.  It’s on my book-to-read list.  Alan Stewart’s transition from young man to a young detective is a story that is a must-read for Law and Order lovers.  

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1IuSWVl 

Review of The Desolate Garden

               The Desolate Garden         

By Danny Kemp

Reviewed by R. Murry

“Me, being the irrepressible confident soul that I am, I figuratively dived into the ruck and went searching for the ball.” is a quote of the Honourable Harry Paterson at the beginning of this character-driven suspense who-done-it novel.  Moreover, it was not the butler who did it, as in many an English murder story alludes.  As you can see by the spelling of honorable, I had to use an Oxford dictionary to read this book. Just kidding, the story is written that any non-Englishman could follow without trouble.

For those Americans, like myself, “Diving into the ruck” is a rugby term meaning getting down and dirty, taking the ball and running with it, which Harry attempts to do in the investigation into the murder of his father.  However, he is sidetracked by his chauvinistic ways.

The other main character in this novel interwoven with killings, espionage, money laundering, family lineages, is Judith Meadows.  She is the unlikely government investigator brought in to solve the central crime, which turns into unraveling a book of offenses that crisscrosses international boundaries.  So it may seem.

Who is the instigator of the crime?  That is what Judy and H. are spending their brain power on trying to figure out.  They become familiar with their communications to the point that H. thinks he is falling in love.  Mr. Kemp’s dialog between these two leads one to believe that we have a love story in the making.  His characters fit well together – their wit and sarcasm have you expecting a marriage in the making.

Things are more complicated in Mr. Kemp’s tales of the haves against the have-nots in politics, money, power, and greed. You have to be quick of mind to follow the plot and all the intriguing individuals that make up this journey through a world of decadence and corruption.  The effort is well worth spent.

The novel ends with a surprise that not even Lord Harry Peterson or Judith Meadows would have conjured up.  The enemy is closer than you think.

Amazon:  https://amzn.to/2Y4D0EP