Hard Cache
by Charles B. Neff
Bennett & Hastings Publishing 2010
ISBN: 978-1-934733-57-8
One of many joys being a blog book reviewer is the opportunity to read a wide variety of books. They arrive from publishers, publicists, agents, and authors. I tend to review them in the order in which they are received, so I will have books written by famous, best-selling authors and by writers who I have never heard of in sequence. There may also be thrillers, mysteries, chick lit (which Beachbrights says I should not use as a genre term, but I do not have a better term that is widely understood), romance, and whatever. It is all interesting. Great writing comes from where it does.
One observation I often think to myself as I read is that there is often not a whole lot of difference between the stories of known and unknown writers in terms of plot, characterization, excitement, and so on.
Hard Cache is one of these fine books that, thank goodness, found its way across my transom. It is a mystery/thriller set in the Pacific Northwest. The background is a black market in Russian artifacts, specifically Fabergé eggs, which are sold privately to finance certain types of Russian mafia activities. The main characters are a group of Ukrainian men, and their families, who emigrated to Washington State following service with the Russian Army in Afghanistan. One of them becomes a Pentacostal minister and builds a strong church.
A young couple seeking to be married in an exotic location come to the little town. The male, Magnus, is a police officer who left the force at the request of his fiancé, Mariella. Mariella fears that he will not be able to resist the temptation to get involved in whatever crime is discovered.
One of the Ukrainians is discovered bludgeoned by a stream where Magnus was directed to go fishing. And the story takes off from there. The son of the deceased is a new local police officer. He becomes romantically interested with a Ukrainian woman who is a friend of Mariella’s who comes for the wedding.
Hard Cache is a lovely story, cleverly told, and interesting to read. It is on the slim side so it is an easy read. As is often the case with successful writing, when I put the book down I wondered what happened to these interesting characters. Perhaps a sequel is in the offing.
Order this book and see if you agree with my thoughts about the nature of the books on your reading pile and the level of fame of the authors.
Warms, Cym
*as always, if you have reviewed this book, please feel free to link your review in my comment section*
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