Review: Perfect for Halloween
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 1, 2012
I don't read Michael Connelly stories (because I read mainly fantasy and sci-fi stories by indie authors), but I could not resist taking a flyer on The Safe Man: A Ghost Story (Kindle Single).  After all, it was Halloween yesterday, and I was in the mood for a scary story.  Fortunately, The Safe Man fits the bill perfectly.The Safe Man involves a guy hired to open a safe.  But it's not just any safe.  It is a special, unique safe that other people in the safe cracking trade haven't ever encountered.  How can this safe be opened?  What's inside?  The questions pop up like unwanted weed, as the owner of the house where this safe was found simply wants it gone.Michael Connelly pokes a bit of fun at himself, in creating an owner who is mean, cranky, paranoid, under a ton of stress to write a new novel and hopefully a bestseller at that.  Yes, the owner in the story is a successful writer who hasn't written or published anything in a while.  You throw in a protagonist with a shady past, and a pregnant concerned about money and better living conditions, The Safe Man turns into a delightful story where its characters come alive before the reader's eyes.My concern with The Safe Man is that the story is a little short.  The spooky part in the latter half of the story could have been stretched out longer, with more frightening scenes perhaps.  Furthermore, the ending felt a bit rushed, forcing the reader to piece together the entire plot from Location 76% to 85%, according to my Kindle Fire (after 85% are some extraneous material unrelated to the story itself).  For these reasons, I rate the book four stars rather than five.The Safe Man: A Ghost Story by Michael Connelly is a suspenseful, ghost story that is perfect to read on Halloween, by a camp fire, or anytime you want to read a scary story.