Chris Culver

This started a bit slow. I was almost tired of the flipping back and forth between Joe's foster home upbringing and the murder case when it picked up. The stiff way Joe acts with most people seemed to be a bit much but maybe needed to really drive her personality home to the reader.

The relationship between Joe and her abuser came off thin and needed to be fleshed out but it worked somewhat for some terror at the end. There were a couple of points where I was turning pages a bit faster to see what happened and I definitely cared about Roger. So the author got me involved with some characters - which is a win.… (mais)

This is the third book in the Ash Rashid series, and the first one I have read. I feel that this book can be enjoyed without reading the other books first. I did not feel lost at all regarding the characters.

The book starts out as a fairly straight forward murder investigation. It quickly escalates into a kidnapping, complete with ransom drop, and then into a human trafficking saga. Interspersed with all this are the flashbacks of a young boys life in Russia. I personally could have done without the Russian flashbacks. There was enough action going on in the present day, and switching back and forth got a little distracting.

The plot was fine, but not overly exciting. It moved along nicely. I don't know if there is a 4th book in this series yet, but the ending of this one leaves a pretty big cliff hanger for Ash.… (mais)

A murder mystery with vampires, the Russian mob, and a police department tearing itself apart while Detective Ash Rashid is trying to find out who murdered his niece.
I read this indie author several years ago but lost track of him/her I was lucky to find again. This is a story that I couldn’t put down. The writing was fast-paced, the characters were likeable and unlikeable as the author intended. There are many twists to the murder investigation, I was never sure what would happen next, where the next clue would lead Ash. Then there is the absolute twist that I never expected and that made the story, which I am not going to tell you.… (mais)

I have read all of the books in this Ash Rashid detective series and loved them all. In this installment of the series Ash is no longer working as a detective for the Indianapolis Police Department but has been reassigned to the community relations department. He primarily gives speeches to schools. However, on his way home from work one day he finds a car accident. Since no other officers are available, Ash is told to stay at the scene until an officer can arrive. Ash is unable not to investigate so he begins asking questions to those who were in the area when the accident happened. He determined that these responses did not add up and begins to investigate what he feels is a homicide.

As usual, author Chris Culver outdoes himself with his writing. It is fast paced with plenty of twists and turns and there is a cliffhanger ending. I also love that his protagonist is an American Muslim, albeit not much of a practitioner of his faith. Ash is an alcoholic. This is a welcome addition to American fiction and normalizes how we view Muslims in our society.… (mais)