Roger Rapel

Jim Broadbent is an overworked Detective Sergeant with more cases than he can handle and a marriage that's on the rocks. Like most law enforcement agencies, cutbacks have impacted the already overburdened workload and Jim's wife is less than understanding. When a missing person's case - an eleven-year-old girl named Cindy - lands on his desk, Jim soon realizes there's much more to the story than one missing girl. Jim soon uncovers a ruthless and disgusting child sex ring has been operating show more practically right under his nose, to include some very prominent law enforcement officials. Jim's dogged investigation keeps him on the heels of the ring's top operators and his wife and children soon become targets. During all of this, Jim still manages to squeeze in quite a bit of extramarital sexual activity.

Roger Rapel certainly has some unique storytelling skills, to the point that he's thrown a few "rules" out the window. For one, dialogue is clipped and not separated by character. Some sentence structure might not be what some readers are used to. Mr. Rapel is clearly British and uses a lot of British sayings, which of course, is only natural. I only mention this since some readers might not know the meaning of certain words and phrases. Yet, having said this, I do not think any of these things take away from the heart and substance of the story. Mr. Rapel's writing style actually moves the story along quickly and efficiently.

Cindy Where Are You is a story about a very dark and despicable subject. It's written in a no holds barred kind of way. Roger Rapel's writing is blunt to be sure - no sugar coating here. The child sex trade is disgusting and Mr. Rapel writes it like it is. Additionally, Jim Broadbent's character is clearly a lady's man and his sexual exploits are many and are described in full detail, so be warned this book is most definitely sexually explicit.

I could have done without the way many of the female characters are portrayed as sex kittens/vixens on the prowl, or cried during the investigation, but again, the book didn't suffer because of it. The ending was a bit abrupt, leaving me to wonder if there's a Jim Broadbent sequel in the future. If so, I would read it. show less

Gift or Curse? I was unable to finish this book, so despite it being a free book, I think it was a curse. There were several things that made it unreadable for me:
- the author's writing style is to severely limit punctuation within sentences, and use commas awkwardly, so every sentence feels like a run-on and can get hard to follow. For example: “Frank then unpacked looking out of the window he saw a car parked on the road with the window open and an arm hanging out, this had to be the show more Russians.”
- really, really poor editing: typos, grammar errors, the wrong word being used, even the main characters' names frequently mis-written. Example: “Room service knocked on the door brining in his breakfast which he consumed with an appetite to match his exertion of the night.” Brining?
- the book reads a bit like a screenplay with all the instruction bits left in: “Michaela had thrown a few clothes and essentials into a sports bag then picked up the car keys from the hook in the kitchen where all the spare keys were kept.” There is so much unnecessary detail like this (who cares where the keys are kept, it doesn't play into the story), half the text could have been removed without it affecting the story.
- I couldn't bear the thought of reading "she groped his manhood" even one more time...

Then there is the story and character continuity. This is basically an amateur spy story, where everyone is referred to as a double agent (whether they are or not). For fun, the author has incorporated all main spy agencies - MI6, CIA, Mossad, the Russians, even the Mafia and more all make an appearance. Most of the characters are working for one agency, and pretending to help another. But the characterisation is inconsistent. Early we read, “Michaela had never really sat and talked like this before she was quite taken back by her mother’s wisdom.” But then later we learn that Michaela is an MI6 agent controller, and her mother is apparently higher up in the agency...so why would her mother's wisdom be surprising if she is a high-level MI6 agent?

I got about half-way through and gave up. Probably this book could appeal to teenaged boys, who might enjoy the gratuitous sex scenes, not notice the poor writing and editing, and like all the meaningless spy activity. I'm a big fan of spy books, but Jack Higgins this isn't. show less

This is a fine detective novel by a first time author from the UK. l certainly hope that he keeps writing as it is a fine example of the craft.
The story takes you deep into the life and trials of a police detective. His home life, personal experiences, and the procedural part of being a dedicated detective. This has a bit of a noiresque quality. It is dark in substance and you may not agree with the personal choices but you will probably understand them. Personally I really enjoyed the show more writing style, depth of characters, and will certainly read more by the fine author. show less

Interesting read!

The book is well-written, and it is filled with mystery, suspense, crime and more - it covers several sensitive topics. The story is fast paced, and captures you in the moment. I enjoyed reading this, but had to stop reading at times, when some very sensitive topics popped up, as it can be quite confronting. There were some grammatical mistakes and lack of punctuation when needed, which did make the book just a little bit less enjoyable, particularly when you have to re-read show more those sentences a few times to make sure that you have got the right meaning behind it, or understood what the author was trying to convey. This book also contains several sex (or lovemaking) scenes, so read at your own risk.

I look forward to reading other books written by the same author, Roger Rapel; in particular, "Cindy, Where Are You?", which focuses on the same main character as this book - with him solving other cases (I'm not sure if the books are part of a series?).

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. show less