I started writing this review before I was halfway through the book.
Why? Because I was sure that the twists that were already in the story were some of the best, and surprising, I’ve read in any book.
Had one of them come at the end it would have been the culmination of a great plot. So I really can’t wait to see where this story goes.
And they just kept coming. I honestly think if somebody had told me how this book progressed, I may not have read it. BUT, and it’s a big but, I would have been wrong. I would have missed out on the best book I’ve read this year.
This story isn’t filled with unnecessary characters, in fact there are only a handful of of people mentioned outside of the main four.
Paul Cooper is a mysterious person. His wife of two years, Maria, is kept on a short but comfortable financial leash. He works away from home a lot and leaves Maria at home in the small coastal town of Port Lonely.
Maria, in turn has got bored of her husband, she has a lover Daryl, a bar tender who owns his own fishing boat. He is her real love and she is planning to leave Paul.
Daryl, the typical, laid back, carefree, man with no commitments. He loves Maria as much as she loves him and is prepared to do anything to get her out of her marriage.
Dole, the small town sheriff. A single man with no family. He takes every crime seriously and has one unsolved suspicious death that haunts him. He will never close the case.
Those are the real characters, but there’s a fifth that hangs over every page of the book.
The mysterious author J.T LeBeau. One of the world’s top crime writers, every book a best seller, every book contains unpredictable twists.
LeBeau has never been seen, nobody alive knows their true identity. They maintain their privacy explicitly, nobody can ever find out who they are.
The book opens with one of the main characters at the memorial for LeBaux, he’s about to kill the person he thinks is the real Lebeau. Just as he’s about to pull a gun a hand is placed on his shoulder and a voice whispers in his ear. “I know who you are J.T LeBeau”
The next line of the book is set 4 month earlier. And from there the book traces the story up to the point where the statement is whispered.
In between is the most compelling story I have read for years.
The plot had me comfortable with who was who, and who was LeBeau, until it didn’t. And when the twists started to come it just raised the story to another level.
Even the last few chapters snuck up and kicked me in the butt.
It’s not often I enthuse about a book much in my day to day life, but I’ve been telling everybody about this one. A definite must read recommendation from me.
Pages: 388. Publisher: Headline. Available now. Audiobook length: 11 hours 43 mins. Narrator Laurence Bouvard
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