Genre:
Thriller
Description:
"An
old man is brutally murdered while out for his morning walk on Mount
Royal.
Dissatisfied
with the police investigation, his son, Elliot Forsman, is compelled
to leave his criminology professorship so he can focus his fledgling
PI practice on finding his father’s killer. Elliot and his partner,
former policewoman Rivka Goldstein, track down the killer only to
find themselves caught in a web of corporate conspiracy and hired
mercenaries where even the local police cannot be trusted."
Author:
"Gary
Coffin is a career IT guy who currently lives near Ottawa (Ontario,
Canada) in the bedroom community of Rockland Ontario with lovely wife
Kristina. Gary and Kristina have three children only one of which is
still living at home. The Elliot Forsman books take place in
Montreal, one of the great cities in this world and the city that
Gary grew up knowing."
Appraisal:
Elliot
Forsman has a new PI business with his partner Rivka Goldstein. When
his father is killed and the police set the case aside he decides to
go after the murderer himself. He gets involved with Dr Banik of
Biovonix - a pharmaceutical firm - and with the mercenaries who work
for him, putting his own life, and Rivka's, in danger. He enlists the
help of an old friend, Rayce Nolan, an expert on guns and knives and
on how to outwit an enemy.
Elliot
is an interesting person, grieving for the death of his wife,
starting up his new PI business and trying to find out why his father
died. He is a courageous man, determined and focused.
The
characters in this novel are uniformly good, believable and layered.
The narrative drive is compelling and the dialogue is realistic.
However
it seems strange that the book is called "Ogrodnik," the
name of one of the characters. There is a hint of why at the end but
there are many sections of the book where Ogrodnik doesn't feature at
all. Elliot is the main character and he holds the narrative thread
together although there are times when the book seems to lose
direction.
Technically
there is a problem with capital letters. They are used
indiscriminately in all the wrong places:
"
. . . Rivka Replied.
"
. . . like this,” Said
Rivka with a bit . . .
Several
words are used incorrectly:
"After
I declined
captain Brebouef for a couple of years . . . "
There
are some awkward sentences:
"
. . . and the soldier spoke in a loud voice “Milos. Milos. Are you
here?” In a thick eastern European accent as he walked down . . . "
And a
very strange simile:
"
. . . beside the couch was Rivka’s Smith & Wesson, lying on the
floor like a dead fish."
Overall
the book is really good and very enjoyable. It deserves 4 stars but
the whole would work much better if the material was organised and
had a further edit.
FYI:
Some
graphic violence
Format/Typo
Issues:
Some
typos and a lot of grammatical errors
Rating:
**** Four Stars
Reviewed
by: Joan Slowey
Approximate word count:
85-90,000 words
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