Who can refuse to read a book about a divorced guy who finds his girlfriend dead in a bathtub? And the guy has no idea who the girl really was? Nope, not me - this is not something I walk away from. And that's what we get at the beginning of The Redwood Con. It doesn't waste any time setting the scene; we just jump right in.
Our main character is a guy named Liam. He's a successful businessman, he's divorced, he loves his kids, and he loves to play poker. He's also casually dating a girl named Elise, who he met at poker. But it doesn't take long before Liam goes to see Elise (after playing poker), finds her apartment unlocked, and then finds her dead in the bathtub. Unsurprisingly, the police quickly decide Liam is the likely culprit and he must solve the case himself to prove his innocence. And that's when all hell breaks loose.
There are lots of characters involved in the story - some of whom are seemingly random until you get further into the book, and few of whom are involved for the reasons you initially think. It does get a little confusing sometimes trying to keep everything straight. There's a conman, some family members, an ex-wife, an underground-poker-club proprietor, business partners and lawyers and kids, and a whole slew of others. And a cute dog (even if the dog is, sadly, a little dog and we all know bigger dogs are better). The chapters are helpfully titled with character names so readers know what perspective they're reading from (which is nice because the chapters are shorter and the book changes perspective almost every chapter). But when few people are who they seem to be, sometimes the names are not super helpful.
I'm really not sure what else I could say here that wouldn't ruin any of the twists and turns. Personally, I thought I knew how it would resolve and I was only about 40% right. And even that 40% was more of "I thought maybe this person was involved, but not like that". It's always good to read something that I can't predict, so I appreciated that. I won't lie - I read this once and then had to re-skim it to make sure I was clear on what was going on. And I'll probably read it a third time just to see what else I pick up on now.
If you aren't familiar with Reagan Keeter, he's an Amazon best seller and a National Indie Excellence Awards finalist. In other words, he knows what he's doing. The style is easy to read; you won't need a dictionary, although you may need a chart to keep track of all the characters. And it was a quick read for me, which I enjoyed. I don't always want to spend days and weeks trying to get into a groove with something or having to slog my way through unnecessary prose and narrative. Sometimes I want to read for fun of reading, and this book hit the mark.
Kudos to Reagan Keeter for putting out something that was interesting and kept me guessing.