By Jac Wright
Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing
Published: Nov. 6, 2013
ISBN 9880770074082
Synopsis:
Jack Connor lives an idyllic life by the Portsmouth
seaside married to Caitlin McAllen, a stunning billionaire heiress, and working at his two jobs as the
Head of Radar Engineering of Marine Electronics and as the Director of
Engineering of McAllen BlackGold, his powerful father-in-law Douglas McAllen's
extreme engineering company in Oil & Gas. He loves his two sons from
his first marriage and is amicably divorced from his beautiful first wife
Marianne Connor. Their delicately balanced lives are shattered when sexy Michelle
Williams, with whom Jack is having a secret affair and who is pregnant with his
child, is found dead and Jack is arrested on suspicion for the murder.
Jeremy Stone brings London's top defence attorney, Harry Stavers, to
handle his best friend's defence.
Who
is the bald man with the tattoo of a skull seen entering the victim's house?
Who is "KC" who Caitlin makes secret calls to from a
untraceable mobile? Has powerful Douglas McAllen already killed his
daughter's first partner and is he capable of killing again? Is Caitlin's
brother Ronnie McAllen's power struggle with Jack for the control of McAllen
Industries so intense that he is prepared to kill and frame his brother-in-law? Is the divorce from Jack's first wife as amicable on her part as they believe it to be? Are his sons prepared to kill for their vast inheritance? Who are the ghosts from Caitlin's past in Aberdeen, Scotland haunting the marriage? What is the involvement of Jack's manager at Marine Electronics?
Industries so intense that he is prepared to kill and frame his brother-in-law? Is the divorce from Jack's first wife as amicable on her part as they believe it to be? Are his sons prepared to kill for their vast inheritance? Who are the ghosts from Caitlin's past in Aberdeen, Scotland haunting the marriage? What is the involvement of Jack's manager at Marine Electronics?
The
cast of characters is made even more colorful by the supporting entourage: the
big Scott and his gang, Hosé and Heineken, who carry out Douglas McAllen’s
“troubleshooting;” McAllens' bumbling solicitors McKinley and Magnus Laird;
Caitlin McAllen’s handymen, Cossack and Levent; and Jeremy’s sidekick, the gay
black actor working in the London West End.
While Jack is
charged and his murder trial proceeds in the Crown Court under barrister Harry Stavers’
expert care, Jeremy runs a race against time to find the real killer and save
his friend's life, if he is in fact innocent, in a tense saga of love, desire,
power, and ambition.
My Thoughts:
Jack
Connor is accused of murdering his mistress Michelle Williams. To help get him
out of his predicament, he calls on his old friend Jeremy Stone, a fellow
engineer who shares an office with a criminal lawyer Harry Stavers.
This
was a most intriguing mystery that had me guessing right from the beginning.
While I knew that Jack Connor didn’t commit the murder, there were so many
people who had the motive and opportunity. What a tangled web we weave when we
practice adultery.
I
don’t condone adultery, and I think that most of the problems of the
individuals in the novel wouldn’t have had half the problems they had if they
didn’t, however, it seems like all the money in the world that they had
available to them wasn’t enough to keep them happy, so they went looking for
satisfaction somewhere else. If that’s the way it truly is in real life with
the wealthy, I’d rather not be wealthy. That said, we all know that people aren’t
perfect and adultery happens.
I
think the author did a marvelous job of developing the characters and showing
their interactions with one another. I think using the theme of adultery as the
basis for many of the actions in the book shows that people are creatures of
passion. Passion isn’t good or bad in itself; it’s the decisions we make based
on it that are good or bad. And many of the characters made bad decisions when
they were passionate about something or someone. I was quite upset for Jack’s
wife Caitlin, when her father forced the man she loved, Gavin, to disappear
from her life because he wasn’t “good enough” for her.
It
seemed a little strange to me that an engineer would become involved in solving
a murder mystery, but given that it was his friend who was accused of murder, I
could understand why he would want to do what he could to help his friend. I
was totally blown away by the person who actually committed the murder. I
thought that Jac Wright did an excellent job of working it out how the
individual had the opportunity to perform the deed.
This
was a book that I did not want to put down. It kept me up late into the night reading
so I could find out what new evidence Jeremy and Harry would turn up. I found
it quite humorous at one point at the number of people under arrest for the
murder, and the number of people surveilling the people surveilling the people
being surveilled.
I
thought that the pace of this book was good and I would be quite happy to read
another book by this author. I gave this book 4 stars!
Thank
you to the author Jac Wright who provided me with a copy of the book in
exchange for a fair an honest review. I was not required to write a positive
review. All opinions are my own.
About the Author:
Jac
Wright is a published poet, published author, and an electronics engineer
educated at Stanford, University College London, and Cambridge who lives and
works in England. Jac studied English literature from the early age of
three, developing an intense love for poetry, drama, and writing in Speech
& Drama classes taken every Saturday for fourteen years, and in subsequent
creative writing classes taken during the university years. A published
poet, Jac's first passion was for literary fiction and poetry writing as well
as for the dramatic arts. You will find these influences in the poetic
imagery and prose, the dramatic scene setting, and the deep character
creation.
Contact
Jac Wright
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