Book Review: The Deep Blue Alibi

Reviewed By: Woodstock - RAM

The Deep Blue Alibi     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Paul Levine
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Legal Setting   Thriller   Humorous
Series: Steve Solomon and Victoria Lord # 2
Bantam Books, January 2006

A good book and an enjoyable read needs to dish up characters we care about. Characters don't need to be admirable - the reader can be rooting for a bad guy to get what he deserves. But characters who rub the reader the wrong way don't add up to a good reading experience, whether they are the "good guys" or not.

Paul Levine's DEEP BLUE ALIBI features Steve Solomon and Victoria Lord, attorneys in their two person partnership, who are also lovers and planning to wed. Levine uses brief glimpses into the unspoken musings and reactions of each - and nothing in these asides helps the reader find something to admire. Solomon and Lord have vastly divergent views on working together, living together, supporting each other. Portraying these opposing goals and attitudes only increases impatience and irritation as one reads - it does not endear either Solomon or Lord to the reader.

While on vacation in South Florida, the two plan to meet a potential client, a childhood friend of Vicki's. When they do encounter him, they find him unconscious on the deck of a pleasure yacht - with a dead body also on board. Inevitably they agree to represent him in the inevitable murder trial - and there is another round of unspoken asides displaying their differing points of view on how to prepare a defense against a murder indictment.

Perhaps DEEP BLUE ALIBI belongs in the category of "beach reads." A quickly moving story, with some romantic flavor and a pleasurable armchair travel experience in South Florida. A book to leave behind for the next occupant of the resort accomodations, and a book to be quickly forgotten.

Woodstock - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Woodstock - RAM