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After he blew out his knee on the mountain, ex-Olympic skier Shawn Rainey's life and family circumstances descended nearly as fast as he'd been going in that fall. Years later he reluctantly returns to his family home near Echo Bay on Lake Tahoe. It's the scene of an escalating controversy between civic and business interests who want to raise a famous 60-year old ship from the bottom in order to boost tourism, and the daughter of the owner who sank the ship in the first place. Shawn's boss, a mean, mean-spirited public relations CEO puts the arm on his ex-partner who would rather be almost anywhere than back in his home town. There are still high school buddies, or acquaintances who have varied feelings about Shawn. They include his old girlfriend, his father and the woman who is the principal resistance to the ship-raising project. This is crime fiction at its best, multi-layered with plot circles within plots. It touches on family and community relations, past and present, prejudice, racism and greed. In spite of its complexities, author Richard Barre continues the high standards he established with the Wil Hardesty PI series, and maintains a clarity of purpose, a sense of where his characters are at all times. Piece by piece he lays out the actions Shawn and his supporters take to build the success of their project. Piece by piece he supplies more and more of the background that fuels the animosities and rising tension and violence. He reveals, as a magician might in drawing back a curtain, the stunning reasons why some people in the community are unalterably opposed to the project. In the end, the final resolution of the puzzle is logical, sympathetic and honest. It does not shrink from shining a spotlight on past injustices and present-day dishonesty. Like all good fiction Echo Bay holds up a mirror to every reader and asks fundamental questions. This is a powerful, cracking good read.
Reviewed by Carl Brookins, March 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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