The Abbey; By Chris Culver.Ash Rashid, former Indianapolis homicide detective now working for the Indianapolis prosecutor's office, has a new investigation on his hands that strikes a little too close to home.Ash's new investigation involves his niece's murder, complicated by the fact that her body was discovered at the home of one of Indianapolis's wealthiest families.The coroner called it a drug overdose but none of it makes any sense to Ash.I thought this book started out satisfactory and continued that way through the first half, and then events started getting uninteresting.The book lost momentum, as if the lack of some earlier character definition started haunting the author in his search to try to formulate a plausible beginning to an end.A few of the main characters..- Olivia Rhodes, Detective Rashid's partner, was one character that I thought could have been expanded.As the book progressed, her role seemed to diminish, only to re-emerge in a major way in the end - Detective Rashid's wife Hannah, and daughter Megan were involved towards the end of the book by being victims themselves - Nassir and Rena, Rashid's sister and brother-in-law, and parents of Rachel, the victim - Detective Mike Bowers, Rashid's trusted partner at the end - Konstantin Bukoholov, Russian mob boss and owner of the "Lucky Bastard Saloon." This fellow is a very interesting character, one of the books best - Karen Rea, antagonist, has a plan to infect China with a deadly virus.Detective Ash Rashid's murder investigation leads him on a twisting and turning adventure to find his nieces murderer.Rashid's a conflicted man, a man who is coping with how to best deal with the demands of the gun-toting violent nature of his job, law school at night, and his Muslim faith.Not having the full cooperation of his own police department, and the seemingly obstructive behavior emanating from his supervisors, not to mention his partner Olivia Rhodes, he moves forward in his own imbibing manner.Even though Detective Ash Rashid never drew a sober breath in this book, he plods forward in his attempt to unravel the mystery.A mystery that eventually involves Dr.Karen Rea and her nephew Azrael.His investigation becomes increasingly personal; if he does not solve it soon it threatens to involve his family.I would rate this book 3/5 stars.The book has some nice character formation in the beginning, continuing through the halfway point, and then it starts to lose momentum.I thought the author was struggling in the last third of the book to find a plausible way to wrap it up.However, I think he did a satisfactory job.It was an entertaining read, not a real page-turner but not bad.Definitely worth the price.I would look forward to reading another book by this author, especially since I do like reading this genre.I was entertained by the idea of a former homicide detective working for the Indianapolis prosecutor's office investigating the death of his niece, and at the same time juggling a bottle of booze, night school, and his Muslim faith.That is good stuff.The Abbey. Reviewed by Raymond James.
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