Book Review: Noble lies

Reviewed By: Lynn Harnett

Noble lies     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Charles Benoit
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Poisoned Pen Press, Sept. 2007

In his third clever, witty novel of Americans finding trouble abroad, Benoit (“Relative Danger,” “Out of Order”) sets the scene and the tone from the first sentence.

“What he needed was a knife.

“He had sold his good knife in Cairo, a court official demanding a much larger bribe than usual, and last month, somewhere north of Delhi, he had left his backup knife in the thigh of a French bootlegger. He was sure the man was eager to return it but he saw it more as a gift than a loan.”

A decorated Gulf War veteran with a long history of living on the edge, Mark Rohr is hungover, broke and out of a job in Phuket City, Thailand, when the naïve blond American Robin Antonucci interrupts his efforts to pry a couple of Extra-Strength Sinutabs from their childproofed packaging. She’s looking for her brother, Shawn.

Shawn had been presumed drowned in the Tsunami but she has just received evidence he is alive. Reluctantly convinced to help, Rohr leads her through the behind-the-scenes underworld of Thai tourism where they meet a woman who claims to be Shawn’s wife. After Rohr rescues her family from a murderous gangster she leads them all on a flight and search along the coast.

We, the readers, are kept guessing as the characters prove to be not quite what they say – or we readers expect - and events get ahead of Rohr’s considerable ingenuity.

The Thai milieu is realistically painted and populated with authentic, appealing, untrustworthy characters and the plot is tightly constructed. Benoit’s writing is smart and snappy and the plot is tightly constructed. This is a thoroughly enjoyable read from a writer who gets better with every book.

Lynn Harnett

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Lynn Harnett