Review: Intrigue, Treachery, and Murder
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 20, 2014
Andrew Downs' novel, The Bloodbath Ritual, is full of tense action, lies and murder. When an attempt to shut down armored truck robberies costs Alex Hollock two his four agent crew and hospitalizes another Alex becomes suspicious that someone within the FBI Los Angles field office has been working with the thieves. He clandestinely interviews the  one criminal who survived and is in jail and records the interview. Before he leaves for Washington, he calls his home phone and records it on his answering machine. That tape becomes the impetus for many murders. As a result he realizes that the head agent in Los Angles is cashing in on the money from the heists. Gradually everyone with knowledge of what happens is murdered. Alex doesn't know whom he can trust. Downs writes a good story with multiple plots that coalesce into a brutal climax. Despite Andrews great plot and characters, I had a few problems with the way the story was written. These are my personal opinions and may vary from other readers. I think Andrew uses passive voice too much. Again my personal opinion. If he were to write went or left for had gone it would make for a stronger sentence. There are the occasional missing words but not enough to make reading the book difficult. You must read the book to find out what the Bloodbath Ritual is