Review: A Cracking Good Read
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 21, 2012
Have you met Sam McRae?If not, you should.Debbi Mack's first book to feature Sam's exploits was Identity Crisis. The second was Least Wanted.Now, she's written the third in the series. And it's every bit as good as its predecessors.Debbi lets Sam tell her own stories, and it's something Sam does delightfully well. She's also appealing in other ways: caring, kind-hearted and loyal.But there's one thing that Sam is really terrible at.Staying out of trouble.Take this latest case:In Riptide, she and her best friend travel together to Ocean City, Maryland. A bar association meeting is about to take place. Jamila, the friend, is slated to speak, and the two lawyers have elected to take a short holiday before the event kicks off.Ocean City has a reputation for being a great place to spend a vacation.But ugly things are going on.Racism, the inhumane treatment of animals and the exploitation of illegal immigrants are all at work on Maryland's Eastern Shore - and all play roles in this book.But don't worry. Riptide isn't a pedantic social document. It's a mystery, written for entertainment. And, as mysteries tend to do, it starts with a murder.Sam scoffs when Jamila is accused of the crime.But, as it turns out, her friend has been concealing something, something that might well be a motive for the killing.That's bad enough, right?It gets worse: Jamila has always dreamed of being a judge, and, if the killer can't be found before the convention begins, her reputation will be tarnished forever. Sam has to fight the clock if she doesn't want to see her friend's dream fly out the window.They turn to a local lawyer for help, but he seems more concerned about staying on the good side of his cronies, and the local powers-that-be, than about getting his client off.And the investigator the lawyer hires is even worse, revealing himself as an arrogant, sexist pig.There are sequences in Riptide that will make you angry, and others that will arouse your indignation, but one thing I promise you: nothing is going to put you to sleep.Full of tension and suspense from cover-to-cover, Riptide is a cracking good read.