Patrick Wayland

When a book cover says, “when the rules are broken, there’s hell to pay” I read the book, just waiting for the other shoe to fall. In Deadman Bay, it does indeed fall, but not until you are about three-fourths of the way through the story.

Up to the point where the main character’s life starts to unravel, the story develops two separated, but related perspectives. First, the author paints a vivid picture of the beauty and pace of island life. In particular, I found the visual images elicited by the story to be compelling. Edward Tache, the main character, is an artist, so you might expect him to be more sensitive to the interplay of light and dark, colors, shading, texture…even the essence of a scene as opposed to only its physical detail. The author does an admirable job of capturing and recreating in words this sense of the world.

Second, Edward’s personality provides a constant push toward the final scene. In large part, the author builds suspense by using Edward’s predispositions to create opportunities for disaster, and the reader is left to wonder when and how. If there is a criticism in this part of the book, it is that in some cases, Edward’s personality almost makes the tragedy seem inevitable.

When the shoe does fall, the tension grows further and several scenes are gut wrenching. The author provides a couple of twists at the end, neither of which diminish the impact of the overall plot. It is, in short, a story well told.… (more)