Review: contemporary suspense
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 5, 2012
The Reluctant by C.S. Splitter is the first book in the Crayder Chronicles. This adult-fiction offers suspense, mystery and murder delivered with a touch of humor.  I enjoyed this easy flowing read and finished it in just a few hours. It isn't often that I read a book from a male point of view and I found it to be refreshing.The tale is told from the POV of our protagonist Tom Crayder.  A middle aged, married man, whose wife Jenny works too much as they struggle to make ends meet. Jenny is clueless about Tom's need for adventure and his straying eyes.  Tom's pride and joy is his plane. In order to keep up the payments on the plane, he begins accept jobs from the head of a biker gang. Tom's never broken the law, accept maybe for a few speeding tickets but his work with Jake is questionable. Tom's only rule..No drugs.  This arrangement works well for them.Tom's other hobby is the shooting range and he goes there to decompress. He meets a young woman named Lorena and imagines taking her to a seedy hotel for a good time.  Despite being a fairly calm and level headed guy, the tale that unfolds finds Tom in some risky situations. Thanks to his encounter with Lorena he finds himself dealing with life and death situations. The tale is  action packed and full of suspense, murder and surprising twists. I found Tom to be witty and level headed and I realize he's not really a bad guy; he just makes really stupid choices.  I am not a fan of men and women who are unfaithful and this aspect turned me off....but admittedly it makes for a good story. Having said that Tom loves Jenny and I think this is more of a mid-life crisis. Lorena is the typical other woman and she casts quite a spell on Tom.Splitter's writing style is smooth and the tale is easy to read.  I enjoyed the story and will continue on with the series.  I recommend this to fans of suspense and mystery. The Reluctant is currently available in eBook format.  The second book in this series is also available entitled The Willing.