DON'T DIE WONDERING

Five Stars “DON'T DIE WONDERING: A Tale of Betrayal” written by Michael Newman is an entertaining, exciting and thrilling mystery which takes place in the French Riviera where a murder has just taken place. It hooked me into the story right away - no so much by the murder as I was drawn in by the professional writing style and intellect of this author.

It is a fast-paced and intense story by a new author who writes with a style which is dense with dialogue and action. He expresses a lot of ideas using very few words and short sentences or phrases (like Kurt Vonnegut did). For example, an opening excerpt,

“Jonas Shackleton’s body was found ?ve paces inside the tiled entrance of the hotel suite. Air Jordan sneakers, Italian designer jeans, alligator-skin belt, baby-blue silk twill shirt with an open collar. And a wide-open neck. His throat slashed from ear to diamond-studded ear. 

“On the ?oor beside him, a German-made straight razor with an ironwood handle.”

Another excerpt, “He missed the comfort of her touch more than anything in the world. His stubble scratching her chin when they kissed, sudden smiles washing away self-doubts, her instinctive goodness, her shining bliss when she spoke about the “purity of moments.”

I liked the hero, Andy Carrick, not a perfect individual but seriously focused and doing what he has to do with what he has.

The ending was exciting and thrilling like the entire story. Well done! I highly recommend this book.