Dark Side of Sunset Pointe (A Lance Underphal Mystery) By Michael Allan Scott

What is this book about?

This book is about a man name Lance Underphal, who life was turned upside down due to his wife death. Barely hanging on the brink of survival he takes a job as a crimes scene photographer just to make ends meet. While at the scene of the double homicide he is immersed in phenomenon not only can he hear his dead wife but also he begins to have premonitions of the past murder and the future ones to come. Underphal doesn’t want to accept his apparent gifts, which is causing him further grief. He struggles with dealing with the supernatural events because he is on the brink of losing reality. Determined to do the right thing, Underphal reached out to a hard-ass detective Salmon to help him solve the case. As they race to expose and catch the killer they are tied in to more of a tangle weave of sex, drugs, murder and greed. Its hard to determine the who, what, where, when and how when there are several suspects with a motive to commit murder.

My Rant:

The book starts of with action (which I love). At the beginning the murder takes place and things completely spiral out of control. There are so many suspects it’s hard to pinpoint the actual killer I was completely confused. The author does a terrific job at painting the picture so vividly that there were no details that were left out. I felt like I could visually walk through this story. I connected with the character Lance and felt his frustration as he struggles with his psychic ability and the fact that he might just be crazy. It was bad enough to deal with the lose of his love one but to hear her, converse with her knowing she was dead is a whole other thing.

“The real tragedy is that you’re still here left behind to face what’s left of you life without them. Times like these, I long for the promise of peace that death offers”.

While Lance is coping with the issues he is having about his wife, he also has to deal with the spirits of the victims past, present and future. All the emotions bouncing from one place to the other, it was hard not to get drawn to this character.

The author begins to introduce other key players and you begin to feel compelled to be attached to them as well. Everyone had a story that painted him or her as the real victims and it was hard to tell if they were faking it or if it was real. During the story you also get a glimpse into the past of the victim in the first murder so that you could connect to his character and understand the decisions that were made that lead up to his demise. Everyone had an angle even the victims.

As the story begins to come to a close I am at the edge of my bed because I thought I figured it out, I just knew whom the killer was… nope I did not know. Surprisingly my mouth dropped wide open when the killer exposed him or herself (sorry don’t want to give it away for you).  The motive is clear and it puts everything into perspective. As I think about it as I am typing the review I can recall the hints the author was leaving behind but could not put them together until the end.

My Rating and Recommendation:

I gave this book 4 Purple Rant Hearts. I really enjoyed this book. This was the first mystery I have read in over a 1-½ year and it was a good one. I would recommend this book to anyone that loves a good mystery. I look forward to reading another Lance Underphal upcoming mystery in 2013.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book for free from the author. This is my honest opinion about this book and I did not receive any monetary compensation for writing this review nor was I obligated to write a positive one.