Angels Fall
A
Mike Travis Mystery
Baron R. Birtcher
Iota Publishing (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-9793720-1-1 (0979372011)
ISBN-13: 978-0-9793720-1-8 (9780979372018)
Publication Date: April 2008
List Price: $23.95
Synopsis (from the publisher): The disappearance of a teenage girl draws former Los Angeles detective Mike Travis away from his scuba charter business into the bowels of an underground culture driven by designer narcotics and violent sex. What he uncovers is a world built on secrets and entire lives built on lies. But as Travis unravels one set of deceits, he finds himself confronted with visions of his own past: his own complicity in an act of shocking cruelty. His investigation glimpses a hellish side of paradise unseen by tourists, painted with the dark brushstrokes of hard-boiled tropical noir. This is the story of one man's desire to outrun the corrosive powers of vast wealth and personal vengeance while attempting to tame the demons that dwell in his own dark and violent past. The cost of moral corruption and the high price of redemption plays out against a backdrop of coffee fields and lush jungle, of rich sunsets and the rhythmic swell of the Hawaiian sea.
Review:
Scuba charter owner Mike Travis becomes embroiled in the investigation
of a missing teenager in Angels
Fall, the third mystery in this series by Baron R.
Birtcher.
Mike's Hawaiian life is nearly ideal in paradise. He lives on his
yacht, the love of his life returns his love, his scuba diving business
is going well, and he's part owner of a lucrative coffee bean
operation. But he also finds himself with his spoiled teenage runaway
nephew, Miles. When Edita, the daughter of Mike's partner, asks him to
locate her missing friend, he's hesitant. Ashley hasn't been seen or
heard from in four days, but her parents refuse to involve the police.
Ashley's 18 years old and has a right to disappear, he reasons.
Besides, he has no authority to be involved. Regardless, he finally
does agree to look into the matter, and Mike, together with Miles and
Edita, enter a dark world of religious prejudice, designer drugs, date
rape, suicide, and murder.
The narrative moves along at a rapid clip in Angels Fall which
is probably a good thing as it doesn't allow the reader too much time
to dwell on some of the seemingly far-fetched plot points. The
characters are colorfully drawn, a little larger than life maybe, not
quite caricatures, but close. The contrast between the dark
and sometimes lurid environment in which Mike finds himself and the
nearly idyllic image that many people have of the islands is almost
surreal and stylishly accomplished.
Angels Fall
is not quite the crime noir novel that the author may have intended,
but as a suspense thriller with a number of unexpected plot twists, it
works well.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Angels Fall and to Breakthrough Promotions for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
Roadhouse Blues
Durban House (Hardcover), November 2000
ISBN-10: 1-930754-00-0 (1930754000)
ISBN-13: 978-1-930754-00-3 (9781930754003)
Ruby Tuesday
Durban House (Hardcover), November 2001
ISBN-10: 1-930754-11-6 (1930754116)
ISBN-13: 978-1-930754-11-9 (9781930754119)
Angels Fall
Iota Publishing (Hardcover), April 2008
ISBN-10: 0-9793720-1-1 (0979372011)
ISBN-13: 978-0-9793720-1-8 (9780979372018)
Omnimystery keywords for Angels Fall ...
Location(s) referenced: Hawaii.