Review: Great Story...Great Message.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 13, 2014
The attractive thing about James Kipling's mystery books is their underlying message.  Undercover: The Secret of Luck is no different. This crime fiction highlights one man's quest towards self-actualization despite discouragements and against all odds, until...Luck walks through his office door and his life is never the same again.John Russo felt from a very early age, the private detective blood running through his veins and knew instinctively, the type of detective he wanted to be and would not settle for anything less...even at the risk of losing his ever-growing clientele. It wasn't just about the money (and he had quite a bit of that from his booming business), it was about fulfilling a dream. This is the depth of Russo's character.The other characters are also well developed and together, with Russo, bring out other running themes in this mafia mystery - parenting and the value of parental support; teamwork; long term friendship through thick and thin; and care and respect in relationships. "He loved his dad. He wanted to get up and hug his father... (he) thanked God for giving him such a good friend."Russo's detective work has an espionage, suspense quality about it that reminds the reader of top movie scenes and characters such as James Bond, Remington Steele and Sherlock Holmes.  The story has constant references to movies. In fact, John loves to watch movies which quite likely are what lit the detective fire in his blood; and his dates are usually dinner and a movie. It was even a torture scene from a movie that Russo used to get information out of a villain. Russo even asked rhetorically while in the middle of his detective work "Is this some kind of a move?"Kipling's ingenious play on words, and in particular, the names of some of the characters, further deepens the mystery and suspense of the story. You never know who is `undercover', and as far John is concerned, "even the nicest looking folks could have a dark side to them"; or the deep significance of Rita and Todd Luck in his life; not to mention the likes of Jory Hunger and Dragon who are both true in name and nature.The cover design creatively sums up the book by illustrating the essence of the story - there is always light at the end of a long walk through the forest.