This first Friday in
October is rather special around here as it is Scott’s birthday. Also a
bit bittersweet as well as his mother, and my everything, Sandi, is not here to
celebrate with us. So, today is one of those days that are a bit difficult as
we try to deal with it all. Make sure you check out the full list of books over
at Todd Mason's blog.
As
Live
Bait by Ted Wood begins, the summer tourist rush in Murphy’s Harbour is
over and Chief Bennett is on vacation. Bennet is a bit bored. Not much is
going on for him other than he has to figure out what to with the surplus of
tomatoes from his garden. That is until Fullwell pulls up and gets out of his
cal.
Fullwell
works for Bonded Security and did not making the 200 mile drive up from Toronto
on a social call. The company he works for has had some incidents at some of
their construction sites during the night hours. The latest incident included a
security guard badly beaten who wound up in the hospital. He is going to be
okay, but has a long road of healing in front of him.
Something
has to be done. Fullwell would have done the normal thing and would have contacted
the Toronto Police, but the new VP of Marketing shut that down hard. The VP of
Marketing is all worried about the publicity angle. He is the golden child to
those in power, so if Fullwell ignored him and went to the police anyway, Fullwell
would lose his job in a heartbeat. Since that is not an option, he has
convinced the VP they could use Bennett as bait to see if the goons come by and
try the same thing again. Fullwell is sure that Bennett with his skills,
ex-military after doing a stint with the Marines in Vietnam and ex Toronto
Police officer, can more than hold his own against a couple of thugs.
Bennett
is bored and is intrigued. The money would also be pretty good as the amount he
would make for a night or two of work down in Toronto is the same as a full
week of work back in Murphy’s Harbor. Not to mention the fact he can see his
sister and her family while he is in Toronto
He
agrees and goes undercover on the job site of the most recent attack. At first,
things work exactly as plan. Until they don’t. Once they start heading in the
wrong direction, things quickly go downhill. Bennett in danger is one thing and
he signed on for that. But, things get very personal as Bennett’s sister and her
family is suddenly at risk in a case that involves organized crime from Canada
and Asia, enemies on the Toronto Police force, and numerous other characters
many of which pose a significant threat.
Third
in the series behind Dead
in the Water and Murder
on Ice, Live Bait is primarily an action-oriented mystery read. There
is some further character development regarding Bennett’s past in Vietnam and
memories that still haunt him. But, the main focus is on action as he careens
from violent incident to violent incident as he attempts to put the pieces together.
This
read also comes across as bit dated in spots as “the triads” are explained as
if they are new phenomena. Of course, back in the early 80’s they were new to
the mainstream audience, though the concept and practices had gone on for
centuries. All in all, Live Bait is another very good read
in a very good series. While one could read this one without losing very much
of the previous two books, it is recommended to read them in order.
Live Bait
Ted Wood
Charles Scribner’s Sons
1985
ISBN# 0-684-18330-7
Hardback (also available in
paperback and digital formats)
212 Pages
Material
supplied by the good folks of the Dallas Public Library.
Kevin
R. Tipple ©2018
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2 comments:
You had me at "surplus of tomatoes," Kevin. And I've just had lunch! This does sound like a good read. I'll have to check the series out.
Good series. I recommend reading in order.
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