Sunday, March 29, 2015

The Dark Side of The Road by Simon Green

I've read a lot of Severn House mysteries but this is the first one that I've run into that is science fiction.  It surprised me.  It was also a very good read.

Severn House and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published May 1st. If you like a book where everything ticks and ties together before the end, you'll really enjoy this one.

When Ishmael gets a call from his boss, the Colonel, that asks him to join him over Christmas at his family home, he obliges.  If the Colonel needs him, he will be there, as he has been many times in the past.  The Colonel belongs to an unnamed organization that takes care of messy problems the rest of the world doesn't need to know about.  Ishmael is really good at this type of work because he walks "The Dark Side of the Road".  People don't notice him, he draws no one's attention, and he goes in and does what he must and then vanishes again.  He owes the Colonel, of course he'll go.

An awful snowstorm has started and he barely reaches his destination.  When he gets there and meets the family, he's sorry he came.  None of them are very nice.  And no one seems to know where the Colonel is.  After a major search, he's found in the yard.  He resembles a snowman except his head has been cut off and then put back in place.  Since no one can leave the house, it's apparent that someone in the household is the killer.  They had planned to escape but instead found themselves snowbound.

Suspicions rise, the body count goes up and the only one who can probably save them is Ishmael.  There's a walking horror in the house and it intends to be the only one who leaves.  

While it was not what I was expecting, this was a good story.  I didn't anticipate the ending.  It didn't help to know who the killer was.  And it was ironic that in this house of horrors with the Colonel's relatives, Ishmael also learned some truths about his past.  I wouldn't mind reading another book about him.  He's an interesting character.

No comments:

Nonna Marie and the Case of the Lost Treasure by Lorenzo Carcaterra

As Nonna Maria's longtime friend and sometimes colleague, Captain Murino of the Ischian caribineri never wanted to see harm brought to t...