I’d read the first in this mystery-solving duet of Roman Cantrell and Nikki Holden from Elaine Raco Chase, and loved the characters and their banter. Now they are back again and dealing with their own unusual (for them) connection and another series of questions. Please read on for my review of
Dark Corners
So, Nikki is now finally recovered from the beating she had taken, and is feeling a bit unsettled by her own indecision regarding leaving Roman’s house. She’s not interested (she thinks) in connections, doesn’t believe in romance, can’t find a reason why Roman would want her, and still doesn’t want to go. But she is B O R E D and restless, so the opportunity to debunk the journalistic disaster that is the bread and butter of her boss Matt’s new acquisition is too tempting and tasty.
UFO’s are being sighted all over south Florida, and a pairing with one of the tabloid’s ace ‘reporters’ brings her to a site with a boomerang-shaped imprint, chlorophyll-leached sugarcane, a 30 metre fissure, some strange rocks and a dead body. The body belongs to a guard who disappeared after an armored truck heist, working for a company that is a client of Roman’s security firm.
Oh the twists are big and broad in this one: with mysteries overlapping and connecting, an M1A1 Abrams tank, UFO’s, a commander at the local Air Force Base, Nikki’s Mafia-don protector and his interior-decorating henchman, the FBI, CIA, ATF and a series of serious scientists, sane and not.
With what I have come to see as Chase’s trademark wise-cracking interactive dialogue, Nikki becomes the center of the story as pieces start to fall into place and her determination to ‘get’ the story sends her off, curiosity piqued, into confirming her hunches. When you add in a completely brilliant and utterly bonkers antagonist, a tigress, several geeks with questionable morality and Roman’s take no prisoners approach to keeping Nikki in his life, the story is hard to walk away from. Real science and information is a highlight as the plot develops, and several passages may require a bit of second or third reading, but the seeming overload of technical detail does start to place Nikki’s thought process into the reader’s head, and you see how she arrives at, and decides to investigate her conclusions.
This isn’t a simple mystery with interconnected pieces, relationships and a bit of personal baggage thrown in to mix things up, but that just serves to add dimension and plausibility to the characters. While the mystery is solid and captivating, you want to read on because of Nikki and Roman, you become their cheerleader and partner.
Title: Dark Corners
Author: Elaine Raco Chase
Genre: Contemporary Cozy Mystery, Erotic Elements, Humor elements
Published by: Damsel in Distress Publishing Co.
ISBN: 0153387017
Published on: 20 September 2016
Format:eARC
Source: Author
Pages: 250
Rated:
Heat:
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All over south Florida people are seeing things – things that can't be real – or can they?
Nikki's boss gives her the most bizarre assignment of her career. More than 200 solid citizens have reported sightings and contacts with UFO's! Soon she's on the trail with help from the University of Tennessee Space Institute & the Air Force!
Roman comes to the aide of an old Army buddy and finds himself with the most baffling case of his career. Did the US Army actually hijack an armored car? Or is his buddy feeding Roman a pack of lies?
When their cases converge – Roman and Nikki become trapped in a plot that's stranger than science fiction but as real as death in Dark Corners
A copy of this title was provided via Author for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.
