Noble
Lies
Non-series
Charles
Benoit
Poisoned
Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-450-3 (1590584503)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-450-7 (9781590584507)
Publication Date: September 2007
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): For Mark Rohr, a decorated Desert Storm vet, the last
ten years have been filled with shady jobs and countless mis-adventures
around the globe. The low point is his current stint as a bouncer at a
nameless whorehouse/bar in Thailand. When the beautiful and naive Robin
Antonucci arrives in Phuket City from the States and hires him to help
find her missing brother Shawn, Mark sees the chance to make some easy
money. It is simple: guide her around until she gets bored or until the
money runs out and she heads home.
But what should be an easy job in a tropical paradise quickly sours
when they meet the stunning Pim who claims to be Shawn's wife. Within
hours two men are dead and Jarin, southern Thailand's most notorious
gangster, wants Mark to pay. Getting away alone would be difficult.
Getting away with Robin and Pim, plus an old man and a small boy - the
only members of Pim's family to survive the tsunami - might prove
impossible.
With nowhere to hide and ho idea where they are heading, they set off
around the Thai coast, racing through beach resorts and remote
villages, staying one step ahead of Jarin's men as they search for the
truth about Shawn.
Review:
If only one word could be used to describe Noble Lies
by Charles Benoit, it might be "unpredictable". And for a mystery
thriller, that's a very good word indeed.
For former Marine Mark Rohr, working in a bar in Phuket City, Thailand,
the job he's hired to do seems simple enough: find Shawn, the brother
of an American woman Robin, presumed dead after the tsunami but
identified on a recent photograph. But the missing person investigation
turns complicated very quickly. They locate Pim who claims to be
married to Shawn, but who works for Jarin, a local crime lord who
doesn't take kindly to anyone interferring in his affairs. She
volunteers to take Mark and Robin to Shawn, but only if they take along
her grandfather and young nephew. As their journey continues from
Thailand to Malaysia, they discover that though Shawn may be alive and
well, he might not want to be found.
"Noble lies" are those told by people who don't know the answer to a
question but, in order to save face, give any answer to prevent being
perceived as ignorant. Since it isn't clear at any time if anyone is
telling the truth in this story, the unpredictability of the plot is
one of the great assets of Noble Lies.
Benoit provides many detailed descriptions of the region, most of which
aren't likely appear on the government tourist brochures for the
country, but they add a sense of danger and excitement. When Mark and
Robin meet up with modern-day international pirates, which could have
been rather ridiculous in any other context, it's just another
unexpected, unanticipated, yet thoroughly entertaining bump in the road
on their journey to discover the truth about Shawn.
Though there is an occasional chapter from a another character's point
of view that tends to unnecessarily muddle the story somewhat, for the
most part, Noble
Lies is a thrilling adventure
worth experiencing.
Special thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for providing an ARC of Noble Lies for this review.
Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Noble Lies? How would you rate it?
Novels by this author …
Relative
Danger
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), February 2004
ISBN-10: 1-59058-091-5 (1590580915)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-091-2 (9781590580912)
Out
of Order
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), February 2006
ISBN-10: 1-59058-252-7 (1590582527)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-252-7 (9781590582527)
Noble Lies
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), September 2007
ISBN-10: 1-59058-450-3 (1590584503)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-450-7 (9781590584507)
Omnimystery
keywords for Noble Lies
...
Location(s) referenced: Phuket City, Thailand, Malaysia.
