Review of Edwin Steelside Searching out the Devil

[Nazma P]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Edwin Steelside Searching out the Devil" by Bradford Bennett.]

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5 out of 5 stars

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We all have that one genre we can’t get enough of; no matter how many books we read, it never gets old. For me, that genre is detective investigation mystery thrillers. I’m always drawn to the curiosity-driven, intense feeling they deliver, and I must say that Edwin Steelside Searching Out the Devil by Bradford Bennett excelled in bringing that thrill to life.

In this book, the author crafted four gripping murder investigations of Edwin Steelside, AKA Ed, that are distinguishable from one another. As you go through the stories, the intensity builds steadily, and the final one? It’s a heart-pounding climax that leaves you gasping at every turn until the very last moment.

Edwin Steelside, the former Chief Inspector of the Vancouver Police Force, recently resigned to become a private investigator because Ed is a man of action, but his role started to focus more on administrative work. He was getting some small cases here and there, but his big break happened when he was hired to investigate the death of the famous actress and singer Alexia Morrison, who got shot during a theater stage play, which Ed happened to witness with his own eyes. In this case, there were multiple suspects but no evidence. But Ed's sharp instinct nailed that case. This case perfectly sets the mood with a heightened curiosity.

After this, Ed's name was everywhere, and it was not long after that he got his next big case. The murder of Andre Lavinski, the former head of the BC Athletics organization. In this case, nothing was making sense, then an unexpected twist, a shocking truth that Ed so brilliantly unfolded to expose the killer. I'll keep the details about the third and fourth stories; you have to read the book to find out. All I can say is that the last one will get your heart racing and keep your adrenaline pumping. It's dangerous, intense, and a perfect climax to end the book. 

I was captivated by the stories, and it was hard for me to put down the book. Sometimes, I even lost track of time while reading. I loved how the author intensifies the stories as we go from one to another. This balanced out the heightened curiosity beautifully. We also get to witness the cutest and wittiest romance between Ed and Molly. Jerry's ability to deliver and dig information amazed me to the point where I wished to be as resourceful as Jerry. And finally, Ed, I applaud the author for the way he created Ed's character traits. He's dedicated, brave, brilliant, a sharp thinker, very hardworking yet a tease, caring, and witty. In the third case, all Ed got was the smallest vague clue, through which he solved the case. And in the last case, Ed became a hero, saving thousands of people. We all can agree that writing detective stories isn't easy. It takes a lot of research to create the complexities of cases and the process of solving the cases unless the author is a detective who has such experiences, which is unlikely. So I respect the author's writing prowess.

I also liked how different the stories were from each other. All made me feel different emotions and thrills. The unexpected twists are what make detective stories memorable, and this book certainly achieved that for me. I would love to read more of Ed's adventures. There is not a single aspect I can find to critique. The pace was good, and the plots of the stories were diverse with curiosity-driven and unpredictable twists. So I couldn't point out anything but only one thing: this book does have some minor grammatical errors, but it absolutely didn't affect my reading experience. It does contain curse words, which I don't have any problem with, but sensitive readers should note. With all this in mind, I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars. I recommend this to all mystery crime thriller lovers; you will love this book for sure.

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Edwin Steelside Searching out the Devil
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[Kutloano Makhuvhela]

I agree, detective stories are so gripping. You can run away from them, but you cannot help yourself but look back to them. Ha-ha! This was an awesome review from you. Keep up the good work.

[Nazma P]

I agree, detective stories are so gripping. You can run away from them, but you cannot help yourself but look back to them. Ha-ha! This was an awesome review from you. Keep up the good work.

Thank you so much for your kind words and I'm glad to know we feel the same way about detective stories. It indeed my all time favorite genre and I don't see myself getting bored anytime soon. I'm glad you liked the review and I appreciate your comment very much. Thank you!