Tuesday, March 29, 2011

The Corruptible by Mark Mynheir

Ex-homicide detective Ray Quinn never had glamorous thoughts of the life of a private investigator—but being cornered in a bathroom stall by the enraged philandering husband of a client? That’s something he could live without. Retired from homicide and living with a painful disability, Ray’s options are limited. Stick to the job, keep impetuous sidekick Crevis alive, and spend quiet evenings with trusted pal Jim Beam, that’s about the best he can hope for.


As a new client emerges, Ray finds himself in an impossibly large boardroom holding a check with enough zeros to finally lift him from his financial pit. The job seems easy enough: find Logan Ramsey, an ex-cop turned security officer who’s taken off with sensitive corporate information. But few things are easy in Ray’s world, regardless of the amount of zeros in the check.


In what should be an open-and-shut case, Ray stumbles across Logan Ramsey in a seedy motel room. Only Ray wasn’t the first to find him. Now Logan’s dead, the client’s information is nowhere to be found, and Ray’s employer is less than forthcoming with the details. Suddenly the line between the good guys and bad guys isn’t so clear. With a foot in both worlds and an illuminating look at an unhappy ending that could well be his own, which will Ray choose?

My review:I was reading reviews for this book on Amazon, and some were not so complimentary. I disagree with them. I liked the book.

The author has created a unique and likable character in Ray Quinn, an injured ex-cop, turned private investigator. He is far from being a Christian and hits the bottle far too much, yet there is a slow progression going on with his spiritual condition. He is working toward becoming a better person and Christian.

The author is a former police detective, having worked in narcotics and SWAT, and that makes the book all the more interesting to me, knowing he knows what he is talking about with police procedure and the way the police and investigators work.

This is a first person novel, which doesn't always catch my interest, but this book was interesting and suspenseful enough that it more than caught my interest. I thought there was a good plot, action, and great characters. As I stated, there are some not so positive reviews, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and did read it in one evening.

Now for the bad. Anyone who reads my reviews knows I have major issues with a Christian book containing inappropriate language. This book has two occasions of a word for ticked off that doesn't belong in a Christian book. (Rhymes with "dissed"). And to be fair, this was an advance copy, so it may not appear in the final published copy.

Other than that, this was a great and suspenseful read.

About the author:

Mark Mynheir is the author of the Christy Award nominated The Night Watchman, the first Ray Quinn mystery. He has worked undercover as a narcotics agent, as a SWAT team member, and now investigates violent crimes as a detective with the Criminal Investigations Unit in central Florida, where he lives with his wife and three children.

The Corruptible will be available on April 5 from Waterbrook/Multnomah Publishing.

Thanks to Waterbrook/Multnomah for the review copy.

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