The Abbey
"The Abbey’ is very exciting stuff."
Synopsis:
Ash Rashid is with Homicide and it is never good to end your day having to tell parents their child is dead. But that is what Ash finds himself doing. And this time it is his own family.
When Ash’s niece, Rachel is discovered dead in the guests apartment of one of the lands most important multi-millionaires he is determined to find out the truth – especially when ‘colleagues’ of Ash’s say her death was a suicide and not murder. And then Rachel’s boyfriend, the son of the millionaire is also found dead in the apartment: an apparent suicide. One suicide you could accept, but two? And within a day of each other? Others may not be concerned, but Ash is determined to find out who is killing young adults. And by the end of his quest Rachel and her boyfriend won’t be the only ones to fall victim to a maniac whose main goal is to put death on the streets.
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Review:
The Abbey’ is the e-book sensation of 2011. It has already sold upwards of 550,000 copies. And now it is published in book format. Ash Rashid is an interesting new recruit to the detective genre. He is an Arab American and his Muslim practices can sometimes alienate him – but first and foremost he is a Homicide investigator. He also has his failings but that only shows the complexity of the man. The investigation touches on the issue of blood and now and again mentions vampires. I did worry to begin with that this murder investigation was going to quickly deteriorate in to a paranormal (forbid!) romance, not my favourite (made-up) genre. However, thankfully, the vampire scenario is a bluff and what you have is a malevolent body of people controlled by the brains of the operation. I can’t really say more without giving the whole thing away, but Culver is very good at leading the reader by the hand and showing you through Ash’s eyes the clues and how to join the dots. It is all very intriguing and I have to say, although the writing isn’t going to win any Pulitzers any time soon, Culver does spin a fantastic yarn and I was galloping my way through those pages to see what the heck was going on! You can’t help wondering if Ash who is harassed not only by the hornets nest he has disturbed but also by his supposed ‘colleagues’ is tempered by the fact he is a Muslim. It is very interesting to read Culver’s answer on how many in the US perceive Muslim’s (even ones born and bred in the US) as an immediate threat… but back to the book. Culver really puts Ash through the mill and conjures up a thriller that is extremely and highly addictive. I look forward to seeing where Culver takes Ash in his second instalment. ‘The Abbey’ is very exciting stuff.