Book Review: Thomas Modford - Shadow of the Rock

Shadow of the Rock by Thomas Mogford is the first book in a series starring tax attorney and amateur detective Spike Sanguinetti (available August 7, 2012).

 



It’s a humid summer night in Gibraltar when lawyer Spike
Sanguinetti finds Solomon Hassan, an old school friend, waiting on his
doorstep. Accused of murdering a Spanish girl in Tangier, Solomon swears
his innocence. He has managed to skip across the straits, but the
Moroccan authorities demand his return.





Spike travels to Tangier in the hope of delaying the extradition.
Solomon’s boss, Nadeer—founder of a renewable-energy company called
Dunetech that is on the verge of financing an enormous solar-powered
site in the Sahara—suggests that if Spike can delay
Solomon’s trial until after the deal is signed, he will persuade the
governor of Tangier to bury the extradition demand. Complicating this
offer, Spike encounters a Bedouin girl who insists that Dunetech is
engaged in a nefarious scheme linked to the disappearance of her father.
As Spike uncovers the truth, he finds himself drawn deeper and deeper
into a world of secrets, corruption, and murderous lies.





First I’d like to give you advice: Don’t start reading this book late
at night. I did and I had to pay the price; that is stay awake until
early morning when I finally finished it.



I guess that I was surprised this happened to me with a book that’s not
a fast-paced thriller, full of twists and turns, car-chases,
explosions, and other cinematic elements. It has all the other qualities
that make a crime novel stand out: mystery, exciting settings, and a
hero who at first doesn’t seem to want to be one.



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