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A review by usbsticky
The Man by the Sea by Jack Benton
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I've been reading this out of order. I read #2 first because it was a Kindle freebie (I think, I have so many books on my Kindle I don't remember which is which anymore). Anyway, you don't have to, but it's best to start with book #1. Spoilers ahead.
Slim Hardy is a PI with a spotted past. He was thrown out of the military, he stabbed someone who was/was not cheating with his wife, he's a semi-recovering alcoholic. He's doing or not doing a very good job as a PI.
In this book he's hired by Emma to see if her husband Ted has been cheating on her as he has been disappearing every Friday evening and he's not where he's supposed to be. However, instead of cheating, Ted has been walking on the sands of Cramer Cove by himself. This is a very small and desolate cove. Desolate because it has very strong rip tides and the locals know not to go there, not in least because several women have drowned there or fallen of the cliffs in the past few decades. And not only is Ted walking on the sands but he seems to be talking or mumbling into or at a book.
Slim dives deep into Ted's history and eventually finds that one of the dead women (Joanna) was Ted's crush many years ago when he was an actor. And apparently Joanna has been haunting the village as well as Ted, causing him to try to dispel her ghost by reciting a mantra.
This isn't an edge of the seat novel. Rather, I'm drawn to Slim, his topsy turvy life and his attempts to try and solve the mystery. It does get somewhat creepy at times and the author does a good job of plotting the story. But there are too few characters for the readers not to guess who each of the characters turn out to be before the end of the novel. Overall, I liked it because I liked the characters and the setting and I'm reading #3 now.
Slim Hardy is a PI with a spotted past. He was thrown out of the military, he stabbed someone who was/was not cheating with his wife, he's a semi-recovering alcoholic. He's doing or not doing a very good job as a PI.
In this book he's hired by Emma to see if her husband Ted has been cheating on her as he has been disappearing every Friday evening and he's not where he's supposed to be. However, instead of cheating, Ted has been walking on the sands of Cramer Cove by himself. This is a very small and desolate cove. Desolate because it has very strong rip tides and the locals know not to go there, not in least because several women have drowned there or fallen of the cliffs in the past few decades. And not only is Ted walking on the sands but he seems to be talking or mumbling into or at a book.
Slim dives deep into Ted's history and eventually finds that one of the dead women (Joanna) was Ted's crush many years ago when he was an actor. And apparently Joanna has been haunting the village as well as Ted, causing him to try to dispel her ghost by reciting a mantra.
This isn't an edge of the seat novel. Rather, I'm drawn to Slim, his topsy turvy life and his attempts to try and solve the mystery. It does get somewhat creepy at times and the author does a good job of plotting the story. But there are too few characters for the readers not to guess who each of the characters turn out to be before the end of the novel. Overall, I liked it because I liked the characters and the setting and I'm reading #3 now.