Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Christmas Eve Can Kill You by William Marantz

Val Virgo's life changes after an episode of his talk radio show. His guest is Inspector Angus Duncan. Val has him on to question him about recent bombings that cost lives. In the middle of the program Val receives a threatening phone call. Inspector Duncan calls him into his office to try and find out what enemies Virgo has. Val's apartment is bombed one night while he was taking a bath. He survived but had to move out. He tried to figure out what all the bombings had in common and why he was being targeted. He goes and visits the widow of a judge that had been killed and they start a relationship. Meanwhile his producer takes over his show and in order for Val to come back he has to adhere to her rules. Val and the Inspector work hard to find out who is responsible for the bombings.

The story was basically a good one, but did not flow all that well for me. I could put it down and forget about it and not feel like I had to get back to it and get it finished. The characters were ok, but not really any stand outs. Val to me was not very forceful in his approach to the things that were happening in his life. Abby was kind of airheaded and I didn't think that was how she would have been. After all she lost her husband and was pretty sharp in dealing with the finances. So I thought she should have had a better head on her shoulders for everything else. The mystery part of the book was pretty good because you don't really figure it out until it unfolds. I did like the cover and thought it went well with the book.

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