Review: Race through the Pages!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 26, 2012
Does life imitate art, or art imitate life? Do journalists report news-are they "news-breakers," or "news-makers"? Is anything acceptable in the pursuit of sales and ratings?  How far can we go before the ends no longer justify the methods employed?Meet John Moretz, new hire for the Crime Beat at a barely maintaining newspaper in a small Appalachian community, where the scenery is gorgeous, and life is steady but seldom exciting. That was true-before Moretz appeared on the scene, but from almost the moment of his first day as the crime newshound, trouble explodes and the crime rate in the county increases astronomically. So does circulation, and so does his editor's opinion of Moretz-for a while. But all good things must come to an end-and editor Howard begins to notice some strange events in the arena of reporter Moretz; news that  even law enforcement hasn't discovered, odd behavior, temperature drops-and Howard starts wondering if he'd really make the right choice which he selected Moretz over the several other applicants for the "Crime Beat."Author Scott Nicholson weaves yet another enterprising page-turner, one with plenty of graphic, yet not gory detail, and a winner in his narrator, Howard, the newspaper's editor. In John Moretz he also creates quite an intriguing and charismatic character, gently persuading the reader to wonder "just how far will this reporter go in pursuit of a story?" "Crime Beat" is another not-to-be-missed Scott Nicholson novel-and will leave readers pondering each time they pick up a newspaper, or read an issue online!Crime Beat