Official Review: Ningaloo by Bernie Spain

[kismoody]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Ningaloo" by Bernie Spain.]

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Mafia, missing people, and conspiracy are just a few of the problems Marty is currently facing on Coral Bay in Australia. When his cousin, Diane, goes missing, Marty Johanssen travels to Coral Bay, Australia in search of her. A surfer at heart, Marty easily fits into the area’s dynamic and starts asking around. No one, however, has ever heard of Diane or seen her.

While asking around, he meets a Czech scientist named Karel who is studying the coral surrounding the reef and meets two undercover Federal Police agents. He also meets Rose, a girl who came down to Australia in search of her missing brother, Tim. The two find him, but the man has been sucked into an underground people smuggling racket run by the Russian Mafia.

Now the mafia is very interested in eliminating Marty, Rose, and Tom before the three can discover the entirety of their secrets. In addition, while Marty is exploring the ocean floor with his Czech friend, Karel, the scientist finds a black box and begins acting strangely. To make matters even worse, the smuggling ring appears to be a front for something more sinister. Will Marty find his cousin? How are the people and events he’s uncovered related? What is the Czech really up to and what is in the black box? Will Marty put the puzzle pieces together and solve the mystery before it’s too late?

The character development is well-done. The characters were unique and realistic, but the sure number of them was hard to keep straight. The plot has continuous twists and surprises. Unlike traditional mysteries, the reader is made aware almost from the start what is going on, or thinks they do.

The book had a fair amount of problems, however. Mostly, the formatting was horrible to follow. Not only were parts of sentences broken up between paragraphs, but the actual paragraphs were, in many places, indecipherable. The book had a fair amount of typos as well, but these could simply be a difference in the country location’s different spellings. Also, the plot seemed to have some holes in it and the story seemed to drag on in places.

I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. I enjoyed the book, but the difficulty with following the plot and some of the characters made this book hard to read at times. I would recommend this book for those who are interested in the area or who are more hard-core lovers of the genre.

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