Island Casualty

Author: D.R. Ransdell
Category: Mystery

Suitable for: Teens+

My Rating: 5 Stars

Format Read for Review: Paperback

Pages: 243

Description: Andy Veracruz desperately needing a vacation accepts an invitation from a new friend to visit her in her home on a Greek island. His vacation should have consisted of swimming by day and visiting the taverna at night to hear the wonderful music of his friend. However, his trip doesn't go as planned and his life is threatened numerous times. He seems to be the only one concerned about the man who turned up dead on the first day of his trip, but that concern may just be the end of him.

In Short: This is a well paced mystery novel that goes as follows: it starts with excellent character development, then the plot takes an intriguing twist and you find yourself getting more and more curious as the story progresses, then it gets exciting and full of action, finally the mystery is solved in a whirlwind of surprises.

Pros: The book is so descriptive and the characters are so well crafted that I completely lost myself in it by the middle. This is the first book that has so thoroughly sucked me in that I felt like everything was real. Even the conversations were genuine, especially between Rachel and Andy. In real life men and women often have a way of talking to each other where they aren't really understanding each other, it can be difficult to communicate and so much gets left unsaid. That is how this book is. It isn't phony, where everyone says the right things, makes grand romantic gestures and lives happily ever after. No, this book is real, from start to finish. I'm dying to know what happens between our heroes, Andy and Rachel, in the next book of the series.

Another great thing about this book is that it is a perfect stand-alone! You do not need to read the first book to know what is going on and you do not get left on a cliffhanger at the end. The conclusion is solid and satisfying and the only cliffhanger is what will Andy's life be like now, and what will Rachel do next. The mystery wraps up nicely and is almost suspenseful in its reveal. I was definitely happy with the resolution and didn't see that ending coming.

I'm blown away by the overall quality and fascinating story in this book and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes a good mystery.

Parent's Guide: There are sexual references but the sex scenes are not described with any detail. Some violence (shooting guns), mild language.

I was sent a free copy of this book in return for my honest review.