Review by Ekta Kumari -- An Imperfect Crime
Posted: 01 Nov 2018, 12:47
[Following is a volunteer review of "An Imperfect Crime" by Fred G. Baker.]
4 out of 4 stars
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An Imperfect Crime: A Detective Sanchez/Father Montero Mystery is an enthralling crime thriller novel having a set of interwoven crimes as its main theme with undertones of jealousy and betrayal. The author Fred G. Baker is quite successful in portraying the plot of the book with a straightforward approach while maintaining the thrill throughout the story.
The story begins with three young friends who have just set about their lives after graduation but when they devise a fake crime in the pursuit of making it big in their writing careers, things take an unexpected turn resulting in the execution of one of the friends, Peter Simpson. The priest of Peter Simpson, Father Guillermo Montero thinks Peter is innocent and undertakes it as his responsibility to find out the real perpetrator to make up for the loss of an innocent life. Father Montero teams up with the crime scene investigator Lori Sanchez who happens to think that the crime scene was too perfect to be genuine and everything looked like a set-up. Together they both set out to uncover the truth and in the process of discovering that, they unearth many other interlinked crimes involving bizarre cases of disappearances in Berkeley, gunrunning trade, drug abuse, and sex trafficking.
The plot basically highlights the repercussions of jealousy when it acts as a motivation for crimes and the author use this as a starter to link it with other social vices drawing the attention of readers to some other heinous crimes that take place right under our nose. It has a long array of characters apart from the main ones and all of them have their own important part to play in the development of the storyline. It also explores the relationship development between the characters. Well, to say that the plot of this book is complex is an understatement, but that is precisely the reason why you are going to love this book as the author has managed to tie all the elements to each other while maintaining the intricacy of the storyline. While reading it, the reader may have to pay special attention to the timeline as it plays a significant role in layering down the mystery. The book is divided into a series of chapters and each one starts with a date going through the timeline of events.
I admire the author for his writing style; in spite of a complex chain of events, the author has managed to make it seamless through his writing. The plot takes the reader through a lot of twists and turns as the characters unravel one mystery after another. The enigma created by the author is so good that even if the reader makes out who the real perpetrator is after reading a few chapters, the suspense and thrill of the story continues until the end. The end of the story also comes out to be very unanticipated, which is a plus for building curiosity in readers, considering this is the first book in the series and the author is working on a sequel.
I consider the book to be professionally edited; I did find some errors but those looked to me like it may have slipped through by mistake even after professional editing. There is some use of crude language in certain circumstances, but I understood it to be inherent in those situations, or in some cases, it may have been used by the author to demonstrate the reality of some situations.
I rate this 4 out of 4 stars for its ability to keep its readers on the edge with every twist and the detailing with which it has been written. I think everyone who loves crime thrillers should definitely read this book. The suspense genre fans will also enjoy it, but readers who are not very comfortable with crude language should be wary before considering to read it.
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An Imperfect Crime
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4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
An Imperfect Crime: A Detective Sanchez/Father Montero Mystery is an enthralling crime thriller novel having a set of interwoven crimes as its main theme with undertones of jealousy and betrayal. The author Fred G. Baker is quite successful in portraying the plot of the book with a straightforward approach while maintaining the thrill throughout the story.
The story begins with three young friends who have just set about their lives after graduation but when they devise a fake crime in the pursuit of making it big in their writing careers, things take an unexpected turn resulting in the execution of one of the friends, Peter Simpson. The priest of Peter Simpson, Father Guillermo Montero thinks Peter is innocent and undertakes it as his responsibility to find out the real perpetrator to make up for the loss of an innocent life. Father Montero teams up with the crime scene investigator Lori Sanchez who happens to think that the crime scene was too perfect to be genuine and everything looked like a set-up. Together they both set out to uncover the truth and in the process of discovering that, they unearth many other interlinked crimes involving bizarre cases of disappearances in Berkeley, gunrunning trade, drug abuse, and sex trafficking.
The plot basically highlights the repercussions of jealousy when it acts as a motivation for crimes and the author use this as a starter to link it with other social vices drawing the attention of readers to some other heinous crimes that take place right under our nose. It has a long array of characters apart from the main ones and all of them have their own important part to play in the development of the storyline. It also explores the relationship development between the characters. Well, to say that the plot of this book is complex is an understatement, but that is precisely the reason why you are going to love this book as the author has managed to tie all the elements to each other while maintaining the intricacy of the storyline. While reading it, the reader may have to pay special attention to the timeline as it plays a significant role in layering down the mystery. The book is divided into a series of chapters and each one starts with a date going through the timeline of events.
I admire the author for his writing style; in spite of a complex chain of events, the author has managed to make it seamless through his writing. The plot takes the reader through a lot of twists and turns as the characters unravel one mystery after another. The enigma created by the author is so good that even if the reader makes out who the real perpetrator is after reading a few chapters, the suspense and thrill of the story continues until the end. The end of the story also comes out to be very unanticipated, which is a plus for building curiosity in readers, considering this is the first book in the series and the author is working on a sequel.
I consider the book to be professionally edited; I did find some errors but those looked to me like it may have slipped through by mistake even after professional editing. There is some use of crude language in certain circumstances, but I understood it to be inherent in those situations, or in some cases, it may have been used by the author to demonstrate the reality of some situations.
I rate this 4 out of 4 stars for its ability to keep its readers on the edge with every twist and the detailing with which it has been written. I think everyone who loves crime thrillers should definitely read this book. The suspense genre fans will also enjoy it, but readers who are not very comfortable with crude language should be wary before considering to read it.
******
An Imperfect Crime
View: on Bookshelves
Like Ekta Kumari's review? Post a comment saying so!
