Caribbean Moon (A Manny Williams Thriller, Book One) [Formato Kindle]

CARIBBEAN MOON by RICK MURCER introduces Detective Manny Williams & his wife Louise, his partner, Sophie Lee (an Asian-American), her husband Randy, Chief Gavin Crosby, his wife Stella, their son Mike (a Rookie Cop) and his bride Lexy. The District Attorney Liz Casnnovsky & her husband Lynn, CSI Alex Downs & his wife Barbara. All are members of the Lansing Police Department (as in Lansing, Michigan), except Liz, the DA and her stockbroker husband, Lynn. They are acommpaning Mike & Lexy Crosby on their Honeymoon cruise aboard the Carosel's OCEAN DUCHESS to San Juan, Puerto Rico and the caribbean islands.

While docked in San Juan, a grizzly murder is committed in a San Juan hotel, which brings in Detective Christina Perez of the San Juan Police Department and FBI Special Agents Corner & Tucker. Soon, another murder occurs on board the Ocean Duchess and the MO is strikingly similar to a case the Lansing Detectives had worked and solved, with the killer in prison. Doesn't take long for the Lansing cops to be fully engaged with Chief of Security Richardson, a retired NYPD Detective with an alcohol problem, and Captain Vicente Serafini, the Ship's Captain. As you read this carefully plotted novel you are gripped in suspense as you scroll down your Kindle. The scenes are masterfully and vividly laid out, you feel the Caribbean brerezes, smell the coconuts, the rich Pina Coladas and Cuba Libres. You get to know the characters indepth, and you like them. Then Robert Peppercorn appears as he is released from prison. You learn first-hand from him that he is now Eli Jenkins. He next appears in San Juan, and you learn he is a passenger on the Ocean Duchess . . . with a score to settle with the Lansing cops. The plot thickens and you are kept on the edge of your seat as bodies start showing up in rapid succession. Soon, the ship's Captain allows the Lansing Cops to be part of the task force, headed by FBI Special Agent Corner to conduct an all out search for the killer.

The ending will catch you totally off-guard! I highly recommend this FIVE STAR novel and guarantee you will be looking forward, as I am to DECEITFUL MOON by RICK MURCER. Detective Manny Williams and his partner Sophie Lee take us on another ride in a taught detective novel.

Michael Phelps
Author

I got a lot of laughs out of this book.

Unfortunately, the author did not intend it as a comedy. WARNING: Anyone who cares about the English language should NOT read this book. You will retch. I'll give you some examples a bit later in this review.

Aside from the obvious butchery of our language, it is equally obvious this author didn't bother to get a competent editor to look at this work. Why do I say this? The characters aren't credible, the plot just doesn't work, the author tries so hard to be clever and "creative" with words that he winds up sounding like a seventh grader attempting to emulate one of the greats, and give me a break... the bad guy gets away at the end? There is no satisfactory conclusion to the book.

Perhaps the author is attempting to lure the gullible into purchasing future books, which I see he has written. I can only hope that he's learned from his mistakes.

Okay, here are some of the examples I promised, some of the absolutely wretched writing inflicted on us readers. Note: what follows is a mere sampling of the comedic blunders with which this book is riddled. If you see a misspelling, please assume (sic) immediately following.

"There was a mutual, cosmic tear that her and her intended soul mate needed to mend."

"'This is going to be one hell of a vacation,' he clenched. 'At least for me.'"

[character name]... "let out a soughed breath and left this world, windpipe crushed like a twig in a vice."

"The words [on the paper] reached out and grabbed him by the front of his uniform."

"She purged a full belly laugh."

"...after he had wrangled into the black tux..."

"Mixed emotions strolled into his mind like they owned the place."

"Hot, tingling silence raced up and down [his] body."

"'Excuse me,' he smoothed, as he brushed against her."

"An uneasy feeling tapped [him] on the shoulder."

"His imagination had just taken a trip on the good ship Lollipop."

"A wide yawn came to visit while she stood and stretched."

"Jenkins staggered to one knee, two round holes braying from the middle of his tank top."

"[He] let loose the breath he was hoarding..."

"Argyle disagreed, sighting the lack of success in those other therapies."

And so it goes. There are many, many more. If you didn't see anything wrong with any of the quotes above, and you don't mind semi-believable plot and characters, then you might enjoy this book.

However, for my money, the amount he is charging for this book is too much. Free would be too much.

Could it be made better? Absolutely. Tighten the plot, redo the characters to be more lifelike, and for goodness sake, get a good editor to review it (and listen to what he or she tells you) before you inflict it on the public.

While I was interested enough in the storyline to finish the book, the author packed so much simile into every other sentence that it was difficult for me to read without continually rolling my eyes. The constant use of simile was in no way subtle and detracted from the flow of the writing. ("The details of the murder stormed his senses. He tried to shove them away, but they hung in there like a door-to-door environmental activist.") Also, the "witty banter" between the main characters was sometimes overdone and off-track, and I wanted to get back to the story. I love murder mysteries, but this was not my favorite. Probably worth the $0.99 price I suppose.