Bait by Nick Brownlee
I did say that I was going to prioritise crime fiction this month. Brownlee is a newcomer to the genre, and he has produced a page turner here.
The book opens with a murder, actually someone being gutted like a fish. And that is only the first of a string of murders, each trying to cover up the first. The setting is Kenya, and the investigation ends up the responsibility of the only honest cop in town. As his investigations continue, he mets an ex-London policeman who has retired to run a big game fishing charter. Jack and Jouma make a powerful team that eventually get to the bottom of the mess. But not before virtually the whole criminal organization gets trigger happy and kill each other off.
As you can see, this is a very bloody book. But the string of murders stayed within character and remained very logical. I have read many sillier plotlines from Agatha Christie, and she is supposedly an authority. However, there was one coincidence that I found hard to swallow. The overall big boss of the organization did not seem credible, it was just one too many neatly tied ends.
I will admit that this book kept me reading. I started and finished it within 24 hours. There was no way I could stop once I started.
