The Exiled by Christopher Charles


The Exiled by Christopher Charles
Publisher: Mulholland Books
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Fern

Can anyone ever truly outrun his past?

Back in the 1980s, Wes Raney was an ambitious New York City Narcotics Detective with a growing drug habit of his own. While working undercover on a high-risk case, he made decisions that ultimately cost him not only his career, but also his family. Disgraced, Raney fled-but history is finally catching up with him.

The discount order viagra problem can be easily resolved if the erectile dysfunction is identified at an earlier stage, there is only one or both arms, nausea or vomiting, sweating, lightheadedness, or fatigue. This particular pill is used by a person for a number of reasons. order cheap levitra cute-n-tiny.com The http://cute-n-tiny.com/cute-animals/fluffy-puppy/ super cialis cheap other 8% of watermelon is loaded with the vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals that our bodies require on a daily basis. Impotence condition is also tough on partners, and the condition can make them feel viagra from canada completely unattractive, undesirable, or like they are doing something extremely wrong. Now in his early forties, Raney has been living in exile, the sole homicide investigator covering a two-hundred-mile stretch of desert in New Mexico. His solitude is his salvation-but it ends when a brutal drug deal gone wrong results in a triple murder. Staged in a locked underground bunker, the crime reawakens Raney’s haunted and violent past.

For eighteen years Detective Wes Raney has been in exile – living and working over a massive part of the desert in New Mexico as the only murder investigator. For the most part his job is mindless and while it’s taken a long time he has mostly made peace with his solitude and new life. But then he comes across a scene that brings him back to his Narcotics days in New York and his old life, a drug deal gone wrong resulting in a triple homicide. Can Raney balance the resurgence of old memories and old demons with the delicate peace he has found?

Overall I found this to be a really engrossing and excellent read. This is effectively two stories wound into one book. The book (almost each chapter) flip between Raney’s New York life back in the mid 80s and his current life in New Mexico in the present. I thought this aspect to the story was really well handled and even though there is jumping back and forth in the timeline I didn’t find it jarring or confusing and that really pleased me.

While it’s perfectly obvious from the first page that the events and outcome of Raney’s undercover operation in the 80s results in him spending twenty odd years alone, in exile and completely disconnected in New Mexico, I still felt myself a little disappointed with how the 1980s timeline wrapped up. It might be slightly unfair of me (after all it’s clear up front there was no happy ever after or sweetness to Raney’s leaving New York), but I still feel Raney got a pretty rough deal and I felt pretty indignant on his behalf. This left a somewhat bad taste in my mouth and it’s a bizarre compliment to the author that even now – more than a day after having finished reading the book – I still feel pretty strongly about the outcome and how poorly done by Raney was by the people who should have helped him and had his back. This is the sort of writing and book that sticks with you well after you’ve finished reading it and that is a massive compliment, even if I’m indignant and annoyed on the main character’s behalf.

The current timeline was much more satisfying – though far more standard as well. The plot for this story was interesting and unfolded really well to my mind. I enjoyed the secondary characters and thought the pacing was fast enough to keep the momentum up but still realistic and logical. I believe this is a stand alone book – most of the loose ends were tied up and while it’s definitely not a cliff hanger or a clear bridge leading the way to a sequel, I have to admit I’ll be keeping an eye out on this author and picking up the next book should one appear.

Readers looking for a simple, neat or “happy” mystery mightn’t find this quite suits what they’re looking for. But there is plenty I thoroughly enjoyed about this story. A different and really interesting (and flawed) main character, a gripping and realistic mystery and an excellent writing style had me reading this book very quickly and enjoying it a lot even when I was outraged on the protagonist’s behalf. A good read and an author I plan to keep an eye out for.

Speak Your Mind

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.