Barbados Heat by Don Bruns
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(Hardcover - REV)
- Pub. Date: October 2003
- 320pp
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Product Details
- Pub. Date: October 2003
- Publisher: St. Martin's Press
- Format: Hardcover, 320pp
- ISBN-13: 9780312304928
- ISBN: 0312304927
- Edition Description: REV
Synopsis
Congressman Shapply, a former music insider who now leads the crusade against offensive lyrics in rap songs, is attacked and murdered in from of his Washington D.C. home. His son Nick is arrested and charged with murder. For veteran music journalist Mick Sever, covering this case is personal. Sever, best friend of the accused killer, believes his friend's claims of innocence. With the help of an old flame, Mick must penetrate the bizarre Shapply family - the icy matriarch Alicia, the disturbed daughter Amber and the religious brother-in-law - to find the truth. The investigation will take Mick from the halls of the Capital to the beaches of Barbados. Threatened by unknown assailants and dangers at every turn, Mick becomes the hunted as killer turns the tables in a stunning climax.
Publishers Weekly
As in Bruns's mystery debut, Jamaica Blue (2002), music journalist Mick Sever doesn't so much detect as just survive in this unconvincing tale of sex and murder with a Caribbean flavor. Robert Shapply, a born-again congressman, has turned over a new leaf and now wants to clean up the record industry by holding hearings designed to put some rappers and theirs labels out of business for good. Shortly before the hearings, someone brutally murders Shapply on the steps of his D.C. townhouse. Once friendly with Shapply and best friends with Shapply's stepson, Nick Brand, Mick soured on the duo when they left him almost bankrupt in a failed joint enterprise. Soon Nick is in jail on suspicion of murder, and an up-and-coming rapper is fingered as the hit man. Nick's imperious mother, Alicia Shapply; Alicia's brother, evangelist Joseph Evans; and Mick's ex-wife, Ginny, help liven up the proceedings, lending advice or assistance as Mick tracks the story from Washington to Florida and Barbados into the distant past. Unfortunately, the author's staccato style seems merely disjointed and the plot wanders so off key, readers will be unable to carry the tune. (Nov. 10) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
More Reviews and RecommendationsBiography
Don Burns is a songwriter, musician, and advertising executive. He and his family live in Ohio and frequent Florida and the Caribbean. This is his first book.
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Barbados Heatby Anonymous
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January 01, 2004: Tock Tock, Tick tock. Like the sound of steel wheels over the gandy dancer?s rail joints, this novel rocks along. A Congressman is dead. He wanted to attack the Hip Hop and Rap music industry. He wanted to join his brother-in-law, the Reverend Joseph Evans in an attempt to rein in bad lyrics, violent lyrics, sexual lyrics. Now the congressman?s son, Nick, is charged with Congressman Shappley?s brutal murder. It?s said he?s in it up to his elbows along with Rap star, Chilli D, who may have been the triggerman. Chilli D?s producer, T-Beau wants to protect his investment so he calls on a music industry star, friend Mick Sever. Mick is already in Washington on the case. Tick Tock. Time is running on and readers may have the feeling they?re on a fast train going downhill. The whistle screams and the scenery goes by in a blur, leaving out whole pieces. There are complications. Sever, whom we last saw in the author?s debut novel, Jamaica Blue, calls in his divorced wife, Ginny to do research. Tension. Sever once had a childhood friendship with the accused Nick, the Congressman?s son. More tension. There are other family presences, not just in D.C. Tick Tock. Sever?s off to Florida to talk to Nick?s sister, Amber, and then to Barbados, where old wounds still fester. Page by page Barbados Heat gathers speed. Tock tock. And just when you think you?ve got the characters and their relationships sorted out, even with the missing bits of action, the train roars around a sharp curve and carries you off in a new direction. Author Bruns is evolving a fresh and breathless style of pell mell writing that may be a little short on detail but long on action and thrills. Tick Tock. When?s the next one due?
Barbados Heatby Anonymous
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October 12, 2003: After reading and enjoying Jamaica Blue, Bruns' first effort, I was anxious to learn more about behind the scenes peeks of the rock and roll lifestyle. Bruns didn't disappoint. Mick Sever is a journalist with a passion to get to the bottom of a story and he does it by almost losing his life. Having traveled to Barbados,I can say his scenes are dead on. A murdered congressman, a frightful wife, an over the hill Soul Singer from the 60s and Mick's ex wife, all help bring the story to a wild conclusion as Sever tries to find the congressman's real killer. If you like tropical books with lots of action and suspense this is one to try.
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