Friday, April 18, 2014

The Boom Room and more

Dealing with a down network connection. Just about ready to knock Atlantic Broadband around a little. But at least I have my cell connection on the iPad.

An idea of Orca Book Publishers to publish books aimed at struggling readers offering them lean, quick-moving stories seems a worthy project to me. Below is my review of one of the first in the series.

The Boom Room by Rick Blechta is a new book in the Rapid Reads series from Raven Books, an imprint of Orca Book Publishers. The series books are intended to be well-written stories that can be consumed in an evening and would be of particular interest to ESL readers or readers with literacy challenges.

In The Boom Room, Detective Mervin Pratt is assigned to investigate the stabbing murder of a night club owner in his office. The early evidence points to the leader of a band playing at the club who had a fairly loud argument with the club owner earlier in the day. Lead Detective Gordon, a nemesis of Pratt's, views it as an open and shut case and sees little need for an involved investigation. Pratt disagrees.

Blechta has written a clever, interesting story in The Boom Room's airy 147 pages. You won't find deep character development or lengthy descriptive passages, but a tight procedural with sufficient red herrings to keep you guessing. For an evening of light, fun reading, The Boom Room should fit the bill.

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