Thursday, June 15, 2023

Book Review: The Carrie Conundrum by Mike Marteny

     Nick fell for a beautiful, shy, nerdy girl when he was young. Being shy himself he never worked up the courage to ask her out and she moved away before he got his chance. She became the one that got away and while he got a job as a cop he never found a long-time girlfriend or spouse. When Katie shows up at a college teachers party, which his buddy had dragged him to, Nick doesn't want to miss his chance. After a great date he drove her back to her car in the teachers parking lot. As he pulls away her car explodes, with no body found. He will do anything to find who is responsible!

    I received a copy of this unpublished book from the author in exchange for an honest review. Since it is unpublished I won't be posting my review on my normal other platforms, like Amazon and GoodReads. That is, until he publishes it, which I fully believe should be done. 

    The author told me to be honest in my review, which I always do my best to be, but that he was nervous. Completely understandable when not a lot of people have read your work yet! In this case the story is solid and flows nicely. Nick is an overweight cop sometimes referred to as his shape being round while other times he is referred to as an "overweight smartass with a thinking problem." However, I am not sure if he is just being overly harsh on himself or how much overweight he actually is considering that when he is dressed in a way to shield his identity they easily find much baggier clothes for him, which disguises his true weight. 

    I will say that the title of the book gives away some things. Considering the main character is Nick and he is trying to solve and help Katie, not Carrie. So, when things go south on the Katie front and she's the only one he ever loved...well you see what I mean. 

    This story is big on the fool me twice setting. It feels a little redundant and to be honest after the first time of each instance I expected the second. That being said those are my only complaints. The story is engaging and you actively want to solve the mystery behind everything. The betrayers aren't hard to guess with the amount of characters in the book, but the author does a good job of throwing hints elsewhere.     

    We have plenty of fast-paced action in this story complete with the mob, murder cover-ups, corrupted officials, and some bombings. All wonderful things making the story more enjoyable!

    This book is not currently available for purchase anywhere, however when it is I will be sure to update this record. I will also add a photo to this page when a cover exists. 

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