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Blood Island: A Matt Royal Mystery

H. Terrell Griffin
Oceanview Publishing (2089)
ISBN 9781933515212
Reviewed by Sandie Kirkland for RebeccasReads (4/09)

Matt Royal was a successful, hard-driving lawyer in Florida.  Unfortunately, that high-pressure type of life led to too much stress, too much drinking, and the destruction of his marriage.  Bottoming out after his wife left, Royal gives up law and moves to Naples.  He has put his life back together and spends his time fishing and occasionally helping out friends with legal matters.

One day, he gets a call he'd never expected.  His ex-wife, Laura, is in town and wants to see him.  When they meet, she tells him that her stepdaughter, an eighteen-year-old named Peggy, has gone missing after spring break in Florida.  Never having stopped loving Laura, Matt agrees to look into the matter and see if he can find Peggy.

The investigation starts a trail of dead bodies.  Someone knows Matt is looking, and they aren't happy about it; witnesses who talk to him are turning up dead.  Royal has lots of friends in both the police and military from his time serving in the Special Forces, and lots of other male friends he has made while living in the area.  They all help him where needed.  The investigation leads to Key West, where Matt finds that two men chased down Peggy and kidnapped her while she was trying to make a call to her father.  The clues lead to a charismatic evangelist, prostitution houses, and terrorism.  Matt and his friends rescue Peggy and uncover a terrorist plot that would rock the nation.

Griffin's writing is fast-paced and full of action, yet the reader is not overwhelmed by it.  The pace moves nicely, and the relationships revealed move the story forward.  The plot is not overwhelmed by coincidences, a feature often found in mystery novels.  I enjoyed learning more about the history of Florida, and reading about such a male world and the friendships that propel it.  This book is recommended for readers who like action and a satisfactory plot.  This is the third Matt Royal novel and I'll be looking for the first two to read more of Matt's adventures.


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