Helpful Score: 3
First Zack Chasteen mystery set in Florida and the Bahamas. What a great book to start the year! We meet Zack as he is being released from prison, having spent better than 18 months there for smuggling and counterfeiting, while Zack assures us he's innocent. Still, trouble haunts him from the moment he steps outside the prison walls. Well-written, easy reading, just the right amount of humor. I lived in Florida for 2 years and hated it, but the author's obvious love for the state shines through and almost makes me want to go back. Maybe just for a week's vacation. Well done!
Helpful Score: 2
While the author has been compared to such greats as Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey, I simply don't see him as being in their league. Yes, he's a decent writer, and he writes a good yarn, but he needs to work more on character development. Take, for example, the character of Boggy in this book. While the character does get mentioned early on in the book, he actually does not even appear until the final 1/3, and then plays almost no role in the story. In fact, very few of the characters in this book come across with any kind of depth or persona. Most of them are as flat and lifeless as the cardboard covers of the book itself.
