Reviewing: "Rolling Thunder: A John Ceepak Novel" by Chris Grabenstein

Memorial Day weekend is in place again at Sea Haven, New Jersey. The eighteen mile long barrier island is the vacation spot for thousands of tourists and the year around home for residents such as Officers John Ceepak and Danny Boyle. Both are working crowd control duty at “Big Paddy’s Rolling Thunder,” a brand new and all wood roller coaster at the end of the newly rebuilt Pier Four. It should have been the usual type of day with minor issues and a great kickoff to the coming summer.

It wasn’t.

Within minutes of the first train making the debut circuit of the track to celebrate the opening of the roller coaster, the train is locked down with very important people on board as well as a local disc jockey live on the air screaming for help. Big Paddy is the loudest because his wife has slumped in her seat due to an apparent heart attack. His money and political connections are worthless right now as the money won’t save her.

Despite the efforts of Boyle and Ceepak, Mrs. O’ Malley, can’t be saved. Tragedy has struck the family and the children don’t seem to be that broken up about it. In fact, there seems to be out and out joy among some in the family. That makes Ceepak and Boyle suspicious and it doesn’t take long before a second death happens that is not only a bit gruesome but more in line with some of the whacky deaths have happened before. With fresh motivation and a disregard for public relations and superiors, Ceepak and Boyle work to identify suspects and solve the cases before more die.

This sixth novel in a very enjoyable series marks a new publisher as well as a return to what made the series so good. Not just the fact that Michal Fusco is once again designing the colorful covers. The humor that started this series was always so strong that it became its own character. The last two books have sorely missed the humor angle and while the reads were good in their own way, they suffered from not being funny. Obviously the subject matter in those two books didn’t easily lend itself to wise cracks and attempts at humor. Finally, in this book, Boyle’s private and public wise cracks are back as they should be. His realistic cynicism about tourists, high profile local people and others, along with a number of other topics provide are a reader treat in this book and the series.

The chase is on again and for those of us who really liked the first several books, this read is the return of an old and trusted good friend. If you haven’t read this series, you better get with it because you are really missing out.


Rolling Thunder: A John Ceepak Mystery
Chris Grabenstein
http://www.chrisgrabenstein.com/
Pegasus Books
http://pegasusbooks.us/
May 2010
ISBN# 978-1-60598-089-8
Hardback
304 Pages
$25.00


ARC for review was provided by the author in exchange for my objective review.

If you have not read this series, you need to start with "Tilt A Whirl."




Kevin R. Tipple © 2010