EricCWelch

Looking for a novel that’s a real page-turner? After a rather lackadaisical beginning, this one really takes off, although the ending, shades of Christie’s Murder of Roger Ackroyd — I hope that doesn’t give too much away — was somewhat puzzling given the characters’ actions prior to the revelation of the guilty party. David Beck, a pediatrician, has just gotten his life back together, following the murder of Elizabeth, his wife, eight years before, when he receives a cryptic, encoded message to log on to a website, which shows a webcam pointed to a particular street corner. He does so and is shocked to see a picture of his wife walking around. He is admonished to “tell no one.” He had known Elizabeth since the second grade and they had been steadfast friends before their marriage. Beck, hoping the email is not a hoax tried to find out the truth only to become enmeshed in a conspiracy by others to use him to track down his wife. A powerful billionaire is using his wealth and power to track her down also. It seems the uncovering of two dead men buried in the woods has caused even the FBI to take a new look at Elizabeth’s “murder”. Beck, in fact, becomes their prime suspect when they discover Elizabeth had a safe deposit box that contained pictures of her with multiple bruises on her body. The death of Beck’s father and the involvement of Elizabeth’s ex-cop father in the investigation confuse matters. Soon the reader realizes nothing is at it appears, and the pages fly by as Beck tries to elude the billionaire’s henchmen and the cops after he has been charged with the murder of Elizabeth’s former friend. Of course, if everyone had just bothered to tell the truth and what they knew originally, several lives might have been spared, but then again, there would be no story.