Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written a review of Angels Fall by Baron R. Birtcher. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.
Angels Fall by Baron R. Birtcher
A Mike Travis Mystery
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.
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