(Reviewed by Pat Luboff)
“My husband has disappeared”…..
“Inwardly I groaned. It sounded like an old familiar scenario. Tired marriage. Big bills. Nagging wife and bright, giggly new girlfriend. The husband leaves town and his wife until the girlfriend starts to nag and his money runs out. I was about to tell her to try the police when she interrupted, correctly reading the expression on my face”
“No, it’s not like you’re thinking….We’re on our honeymoon.”
They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but you know we do. The cover of Disappearing Honeymooner puts me at a loss for words, but “repulsive” and “awful” come to mind. I wondered about my strong negative reaction, so I polled some friends and all agreed. There’s something very wrong with the cover. But, we are here to talk about the insides of the book, so I will stop my rant here.
I braved the cover barrier and started reading. I was pleasantly surprised. I actually enjoyed this book more than a couple of James Patterson books I’ve read recently. There’s a wry wittiness to some parts of it that reminds me of the wisecracking gumshoes of old.
The main character is a private detective, Leonard Townsend, who reluctantly takes on the case of helping a young bride to find her missing husband. Along the way, there’s a good dose of murder and mayhem, all taken in stride by Len as he trudges ahead toward the solution of the case. There are plenty of surprise twists in the plot and the surprises keep coming until the very last page.
It’s not Dashiell Hammett; there’s a certain awkwardness to the writing in spots, and I found over a dozen typos and grammar errors. On the whole, though, it was a fun read and if you’re a crime fiction fan, you’ll probably like it.
