by Edward Johns
Genres: Action, Crime, Mystery
Format: Paperback

Genesis: by Edward Johns

Harry Travers is an airline pilot who becomes a private detective while investigating the death and suspected murder of his uncle. In the … and loss, leading ultimately to revenge.

Synopsis:

Genesis is the first in a series of fifteen books charting the adventures of one Captain Harry Travers: Travers is an airline captain, with over twelve years’ flying experience, flying the Airbus A320 for JaguAir, but who ends up deciding to try his hand at Private Investigating, as a side line, when he begins to investigate the disappearance of an uncle he didn’t know he had until he is informed of his being the beneficiary in the man’s will, which amounted to a sizeable piece of real estate in Tennessee. He quickly begins to believe, once he starts to deal with his late uncle’s lawyer, Anton Jeffries, that there is more to the man’s demise than meets the eye and along with one of his uncle’s friends, Tommy Shearen, they investigate leading Harry and Tommy getting involved in car chases, fist fights, shootouts and even an aerial dogfight. In this first book we see how Travers learns the initial, valuable skills to aid and abet him during further investigations and the subsequent cases he takes on to gain valuable experience, including finding a missing dog, which leads him into discovering a dog fighting ring and helping the brother of a work colleague, Sheila Wallace, who Harry has strong feelings for and finds a love reciprocated, and has lost heavily at cards in Nero’s Casino in rather dubious circumstances. The latter case ends up with Harry and Sheila participating in a high stakes Texas Holdem Poker game. Future books will see Harry add to his experience levels eventually becoming a kind of Philip Marlowe type character, but he discovers in Genesis a much darker side to his persona when having to deal with less than salubrious characters and an acceptance that danger will lurk around every corner: if it ever came down to him or them, and he could prove their guilt beyond all reasonable doubt, Travers has no compunction to use all means, legal or illegal, to bring them to justice. Harry though ultimately finds himself changed by the experiences of being a private detective for which he knows there can be no turning back: this is how his life will be from now on, good or bad, and he embraces it all with open arms.

Review:

Harry Travers, is an airline captain who obtains a nice inheritance from an uncle that he didn’t know he had. Harry is thirty five years old and drives a restored, classic, shiny blue Porsche 924. To unwind, he likes to go to his favorite bar that is ten minutes walking distance from his house, where he chats with colleagues and friends. Harry has a basic normal life until he becomes the beneficiary in his uncle’s will, which amounts to some land and a house in Athens Tennessee and a hundred thousand dollars in cash.

But, once he starts to speak with his uncle’s attorney, he begins to think there is foul play in his disappearance and death. So from there Harry Travers begins to investigate, on the side. Tommy Shearen, one of his late uncle’s friends, joins him in the investigation. What ensues, is high speed car chases, fisticuffs, shootouts, aerial dogfights, high stakes poker games and dog fighting rings. Harry finds love in the beautiful, Sheila Wallace, a work colleague. During all his investigation and adventure Harry gains the much needed experience to be a real private detective. Harry Travers’ life has changed forever and there is no turning back.

Genesis is a fast paced searing detective story with all the elements of a great crime/mystery novel. It is full of adventure, sleuthing, danger and excitement. The main character, Harry, survives a lot of close calls with exciting car chases, gun fire, extreme fights and even an aerial dogfight. Genesis is a riveting, engrossing and compelling novel that I was completely immersed in from the beginning to the satisfying end.

There is room for many more sequels and subsequent hard boiled novels and exploits for Harry Travers, as his investigating skills and experience increase. He surmounts many feats in Genesis and I am looking forward to reading more stories of his escapades as he investigates more and future murders, crimes and disappearances.

Author Edward Johns, has done a fabulous job of narrating and composing this gripping crime novel. The characters are multidimensional and well fleshed out. I really enjoyed Harry’s personality and the changes he incurs as he becomes more keen and accustomed along the way. All the characters are well developed and fit together like a glove. The dialog between them is superb and written with skill and talent.

I loved the way that Edward Johns was able to describe, not only the settings and characters, but the action scenes, as well. Genesis is a must read crime and mystery novel. It’s a real exciting action packed page turner. I highly recommend it to all avid readers. Edwards Johns is an excellent writer and I am thoroughly looking forward to more by him.

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