This is a fantastic novel, no two ways about it. The
author, Steph Broadribb, runs the Crime Thriller Girl blog, so knows a thing or
two about crime fiction. She's clearly imbued all that knowledge gleaned from
reviewing books and used it to good effect, because Deep Down Dead is a corker.
As I review crime thrillers, this gives me hope for my own literary efforts, as
if I produce something half as good as this I'll be on to a winner.
So, to the novel itself. Lori Anderson is a bounty hunter,
she's also a mother to Dakota, a child whose cancer is in remission, though she
worries it will return and needs money for medical bills. Work is tight at the
moment and she needs a job. She's offered one, sounds simple, just travel out
of state to pick up a fugitive. Only problem is that the fugitive in question
is JT, her former mentor, and someone who she hoped she would never have to see
again.
I don't want to give too many spoilers, but obviously,
things become a lot more complicated than just a simple fugitive pick up and
transport. The plot of Deep Down Dead is topical to say the least, dealing as
it does in an organised child exploitation racket and child sexual abuse. Just
to make things more complicated, the Miami mob also sticks its oar in and so
Lori is up against it.
Deep Down Dead moves at a frenetic pace, the characters
are well drawn, especially Lori, the heroine, who is tough as nails without
being unrealistically so. She's not Wonder Woman, but she takes no prisoners
and certainly won't be intimidated by the various men that inhabit the masculine
world she makes a living in.
The author has set Deep Down Dead up nicely for a sequel,
which I for one will be sure to read, and I can’t recommend this novel enough.
5 out of 5 stars
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