Review of The Reikel Conspiracy
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Sydney Ash
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- Latest Review: The Reikel Conspiracy by Richard Rees
Review of The Reikel Conspiracy
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Reikel Conspiracy" by Richard Rees.]
The book, The Reikel Conspiracy, is a historical fiction novel inspired by the true story of an abandoned American ship in 1872. The Mary Celeste was an American brigantine that set sail for Genoa, Italy. Less than a month after the boat set sail, it was found abandoned. The boat’s captain, family, and crew members were nowhere to be found. The author of The Reikel Conspiracy, Richard Rees, gives the reader a fictional background to the famous mystery. Rees introduces the reader to the main character, Michael Callaghan. Michael Callaghan is a New York detective who is working to bust infamous fraudster and crook, Brains Sweeny. Sweeny recently escaped New York with millions of dollars worth of diamonds. Callaghan is determined to find answers to how this happened. Callaghan’s investigation into Sweeny and his crimes lead to some shocking discoveries. Discoveries that have been right under people’s noses for years. Is there a correlation between Sweeny and the abandonment of The Mary Celeste? Will Callaghan find the answers to what he is searching for? What is standing in his way? These questions can only be answered by author Richard Rees in his book The Reikel Conspiracy.
This was an unbelievably good book. I love the author’s idea to take a famous mystery and give it an ending. There is very little known about the true background of The Mary Celeste, the author uses this story to creatively fill in the gaps. Even though the story Rees invents is completely fictional, he makes it seem believable. Rees is obviously educated in the facts involving Mary Celeste’s abandonment and refers back to them throughout the book. He does an excellent job weaving historic facts in with his drawn-up story to make it sound even more realistic. The author’s advanced writing style made this book so fun to engage with. I applaud Rees’ patience when building his story up. He gives the reader just enough information without giving anything away. His slow build-up to the climax of the book kept me eager to find out what was going to happen. I enjoyed all of the moving parts and intricate details Rees included as well.
The book switched between scenes of the voyage on The Mary Celeste and Callaghan’s investigation quite often throughout the book. I found the switches between characters to be the most confusing part of the book. Because the time frames and dates were not explicitly stated, it took me a while to figure out if these situations were occurring simultaneously or at different times in history. I appreciated Rees including insights into the passengers on the ship, I just wish he could have made the time frames clearer. However, this small inconvenience did not take away from my overall opinion of the book.
Overall, this was an exceptional book. The book was a great combination of crime and mystery. I enjoyed the author’s ability to keep me engaged and excited to find out the truth behind the mystery. The author does a great job combining his fictional story with historical facts. I also found no grammatical errors, which makes me believe that this book was professionally edited. Because of the reasons stated, I would rate this book a 4 out of 4 stars.
If you are someone who enjoys mysteries, I would highly recommend reading this book. This book will leave you desperate to find out the answer to the mystery of Mary Celeste. This book contains some graphic scenes, which might be hard for some people to read. Please make sure you are okay with violence before reading this.
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The Reikel Conspiracy
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
The book, The Reikel Conspiracy, is a historical fiction novel inspired by the true story of an abandoned American ship in 1872. The Mary Celeste was an American brigantine that set sail for Genoa, Italy. Less than a month after the boat set sail, it was found abandoned. The boat’s captain, family, and crew members were nowhere to be found. The author of The Reikel Conspiracy, Richard Rees, gives the reader a fictional background to the famous mystery. Rees introduces the reader to the main character, Michael Callaghan. Michael Callaghan is a New York detective who is working to bust infamous fraudster and crook, Brains Sweeny. Sweeny recently escaped New York with millions of dollars worth of diamonds. Callaghan is determined to find answers to how this happened. Callaghan’s investigation into Sweeny and his crimes lead to some shocking discoveries. Discoveries that have been right under people’s noses for years. Is there a correlation between Sweeny and the abandonment of The Mary Celeste? Will Callaghan find the answers to what he is searching for? What is standing in his way? These questions can only be answered by author Richard Rees in his book The Reikel Conspiracy.
This was an unbelievably good book. I love the author’s idea to take a famous mystery and give it an ending. There is very little known about the true background of The Mary Celeste, the author uses this story to creatively fill in the gaps. Even though the story Rees invents is completely fictional, he makes it seem believable. Rees is obviously educated in the facts involving Mary Celeste’s abandonment and refers back to them throughout the book. He does an excellent job weaving historic facts in with his drawn-up story to make it sound even more realistic. The author’s advanced writing style made this book so fun to engage with. I applaud Rees’ patience when building his story up. He gives the reader just enough information without giving anything away. His slow build-up to the climax of the book kept me eager to find out what was going to happen. I enjoyed all of the moving parts and intricate details Rees included as well.
The book switched between scenes of the voyage on The Mary Celeste and Callaghan’s investigation quite often throughout the book. I found the switches between characters to be the most confusing part of the book. Because the time frames and dates were not explicitly stated, it took me a while to figure out if these situations were occurring simultaneously or at different times in history. I appreciated Rees including insights into the passengers on the ship, I just wish he could have made the time frames clearer. However, this small inconvenience did not take away from my overall opinion of the book.
Overall, this was an exceptional book. The book was a great combination of crime and mystery. I enjoyed the author’s ability to keep me engaged and excited to find out the truth behind the mystery. The author does a great job combining his fictional story with historical facts. I also found no grammatical errors, which makes me believe that this book was professionally edited. Because of the reasons stated, I would rate this book a 4 out of 4 stars.
If you are someone who enjoys mysteries, I would highly recommend reading this book. This book will leave you desperate to find out the answer to the mystery of Mary Celeste. This book contains some graphic scenes, which might be hard for some people to read. Please make sure you are okay with violence before reading this.
******
The Reikel Conspiracy
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: The Reikel Conspiracy by Richard Rees
