Rainbow Reviews

BOOK BLURB:
Someone is playing games in the wealthy suburbs of Miami, using the people of Coral Gables as their chess pieces and murder as their checkmate. When Reggie Bainbridge, the owner and director of The Country Club of Coral Gables, dies unexpectedly, his sons are left to deal with the aftermath: the daily operation of the Club and an unwelcome police investigation into his death. When the brothers realize that someone will be going down for old Reggie's murder, they find themselves playing the game, wondering who to trust and trying to stay out of danger, even if it means playing the game to the end.

BOOK REVIEW:
With a fabulously appropriate cover, this is an incredibly clever and sly story that must be read twice to catch all the subtleties included and often missed on the first reading. The entire story rests on the mystery and the twist at the end, which is both good and bad. Due to this, the story starts very slow and doesn’t gain speed until the last 60 pages when the various elements of the mystery and players start to come alive and show themselves. The twist is unique, stunning, and absolutely wonderful ~ a real mystery that keeps you guessing. Mystery lovers will definitely want to check this out as it is less romance and almost entirely a whodunit.

Reggie Bainbridge, the wealthy owner of a local country club, dies suddenly at a well-publicized party. His heirs and sons, Addison and Brayden, disagree on what happened to the old man. Addison believes Reggie killed himself while Brayden believes the old man died of alcoholism. The police also have their own theory and they start to hone in on one of the brothers as a suspect. The death becomes a complicated game as the mystery deepens with each new fact instead of being clearer. Eventually the police arrest a suspect, but the game merely heightens at that point. In a web of money, lies, and deceit set against a southern Florida backdrop, the real answers are just as important as the reasons behind all actions.

As I’ve said, the entire story hinges on the mystery that is created ~ was Reggie murdered and if so, who did it? This classic question becomes a complicated maze of answers, misdirection, and game playing. The end twist is wonderful and shocking, although upon a second reading a majority of clues are present if you know what to look for. However, I suggest going along with the ride the story offers as it makes for a more fun and delightful tale. This is a great mystery that involves several different elements and complicated relationships involving some romance but very little. There is a solitary explicit sex scene but this scene is essential to the story and characters, displaying important information alongside the titillating erotica.

One of the major problems with the book however is the incredibly slow start. Due to the complexity of the final resolution, the first 90 pages or so are all setting up the characters, relationships and various details alongside the day to day activity following Reggie’s death. This creates a somewhat boring and staid narrative where many elements make no sense and seem completely superfluous. At one point, I started to wonder what the book was about since it seemed to have no direction or purpose. Unfortunately here, the author knew where the story was headed and didn’t successfully translate that to the page with enough energy and interest. However, once the story starts to weave together the various far-reaching elements it becomes riveting. The best advice I can give is to stay with the story as the creative resolution makes the story worthwhile.

Additionally there is considerable pronoun confusion within the story. Although told in third person from alternating point of views, the pronoun confusion almost appears as head hopping. It’s not, but easily could be confusing. Similarly, there are numerous details and subtlety that is often too subtle and indirect in the first reading. Several of these hints that are essential to the resolution are lost in the mundane conversation or roller coaster of emotion. This is part of the reason the majority of the book is so slow, the author knows these details are important to include but hides them almost too well and thus the various scenes and conversations seem random without context or connection.

Overall this is a decent story that starts incredibly slow but picks up towards the end. The twist on the mystery and large cast of important characters all combine to create an inventive and fun story. The writing and language can be unimaginative at times, which is odd considering the mystery itself is clever, but quirky revelation is well worth reading. As a mystery this ranks high and fans of the genre will enjoy this story if they can stick with it. It’s definitely worth the time and effort.

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