Bernhardt’s Edge by Collin Wilcox

Description

A moonlighting director finds his sideline more dangerous than he expected

Alan Bernhardt is just starting rehearsal when his pager goes off. No one in the small San Francisco theater minds—they know that to make it on the stage, you have to be prepared to do all sorts of odd jobs off of it. But this director’s job is odder than most. He works for Herbert Dancer, head of a boutique private investigation service. A corporate secretary has vanished with a sheaf of valuable documents, and it will take an off-Broadway sensibility to bring her home.

Bernhardt is just closing in on the woman and her boyfriend when he learns that she isn’t running for a profit, but for her life. To save her from the men who hired him, Bernhardt must find her and protect her—because his artistic vision does not include blood on his hands.                                

I gave this book four stars out of five

My thoughts:

I really enjoyed this book. I found it very easy to read and difficult to put down. It was always moving forward, inviting me to keep reading, to find out what happened next.

This was an interesting thriller and I liked the fact that it took some time to find out the reasons behind the action and events of the earlier part of the book. I found myself eager to keep going, to find out why things had happened as they had.

This story had all the elements that constitute a good thriller for me, a good well paced plot, rounded, believable characters, suspense and action. There were also good reasons to account for the actions of the characters, at least in the eyes of those performing them. Added to that were twists and turns to pique one’s interest. I liked that it took time to find out whether the crux of the story was about murder, theft, blackmail or whatever. In the end it was a number of things, all cleverly linked through the characters and their interactions..

I really enjoyed the author’s portrayal of his characters, especially the protagonist, Alan Bernhardt. That he was an actor, moonlighting as a private detective was intriguing. I liked how he managed to draw upon his acting skills, and employ them effectively in his role as an investigator.

I would heartily recommend this for any fan of the intelligent mystery thriller. It was an enjoyable read that I found rather hard to put down.

This review was based upon a digital ARC provided by Netgalley and the publisher.