Death Never Sleeps by E J Simon : A Review

BOOK TITLE: Death Never Sleeps

AUTHOR: E.J. Simon

ISBN/ASIN: B0743FWKH8

GENRE: Thriller & Suspense., Technothriller

NUMBER OF PAGES: 291

FORMAT: Digital

SERIES / STANDALONE: Michael Nicholas Book 1

HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: I thank iRead Book Tours for this review copy

SUMMARY:

Where does life end, and death begin?

Brothers, Alex and Michael, weren’t particularly close in terms of their careers in their later years. But when Alex is murdered, Michael finds it necessary to keep Alex’s business running, at least for the foreseeable future.

With very little knowledge about what Alex actually did for a living, little does he envisage the level of complication this entails. Working closely with his cousins, Fat and Skinny Lester, Michael starts to get a sense of what needs doing … in whatever way Alex would have dealt with things.

But, when Alex’s current wife, and his two ex-wives, surface and start to dish out demands, Michael finds himself going deeper and deeper into Alex’s personal space. All his ex-wives knew there was money left hidden … but only Alex knew of its exact location.

When Russell, an old friend of Michael’s, and Alex’s most trusted person, offers to help Michael find the money, Michael feels he can start closing up on Alex’s loose ends and move on with his own, increasingly complicated life.

Until … Russell is brutally murdered …

Someone else is after Alex’s money … and it’s not a friendly person.

But is Alex really dead? Or is he as dead as he has prepared himself to be?

Michael is beyond confused … is he imaging the conversations he’s having with Alex? But Alex was shot dead in his own restaurant, one filled with policemen. Surely, Alex is dead?

Whichever way Michael tries to rationalize things in his head, Alex’s support is beyond what he needs. Finding himself face to face with a crook, Sharkey, one who has no qualms about killing people, one Alex was in debt to, Michael takes on Alex’s advice … dead or not!

As the number of deaths rise, Michael and his wife, Samantha, are left on their toes. Would they ever feel safe again? Is anyone safe? And how far did Alex go with his new venture?

FIRST IMPRESSION:

The book is the first of the series, and thankfully I have the chance to read the other two books that follow. For the first book in the series, the summary is quite long. And as far as long summaries go, they can work either way. They may either reveal too much information, or give a lot of details for the readers to note and keep track of. The book is categorised as a techno thriller and it has made all the difference to the murders listed in the summary - making them anticipated points in the book instead of suspense reveals. They add to the expectation quotient of the novel and set the mood before the reader gets to it.

REVIEW:

It is common knowledge that deaths can be messy. Even if wills have been written and attested, the death of someone who has lived a shady life can leave behind messes that are nearly impossible to sort out. And at rare times, people who have absolutely no idea about the mess are in a position to make quick decisions legally, and deal with all that has been left behind. Michael finds himself in one such mess after his brother Alex is murdered. Quickly brought into a game he had no idea about, with stakes he cannot even begin to comprehend, Michael is left in a position where his personal freedom and increasingly troubling life are also made harder until he comes to face life threats himself.

I initially began this story with the image of estranged brothers one of whom is legally bound to set the affairs of the other in order. But with the ex wives and partners thrown into the mess, things quickly got more directions in which they would travel, and the many chances for which they could become nastier. Michael tries to walk a thin line between trying to set his brother's affairs in order while trying to be careful not to slip in the quagmire - something that keeps proving to be increasingly difficult with every new murder and every new truth that is uncovered, leading to dire consequences every time he tries to make sense of things around him.

The classic 'putting the lamb amidst the sheep' thing works with this novel too and Michael finds himself going deeper into the world where everyone bays for his blood and all the while he is guided from the netherworld - in the form of Alex (but not the way readers might initially assume). The story is engaging because the writing is, and also because it gives the readers more things to process and think of while they are reading the story. This works as a plus in some cases because the readers would process the story in two ways. One for the way it is written and the plot it fulls out, and the other for the way it gives out information that may or may not be important in subsequent books.

This book also falls for the problems that series books usually have. The lack of closure is evident but since there are obvious sequels the readers can hope to get their answers and explanations in the subsequent books which must address these questions for the story to feel complete and right. Overall the language was a plus, thankfully avoiding jargon but maintaining the important terms well. The story was coherent and maintained the interest despite revealing huge chunks in the summary. This is thanks to the writing and the plot sequencing, both of which work in favour of the book. This book turned out to be an interesting read, but it also pushed me to read the sequel - not only because I loved the writing but also because I wanted to know some more answers, which I think is what the author would want for his readers to feel. So in that way, it is a good book.

WHAT I LIKED:

• Fast paced story that keeps the readers guessing
• Does not restrict itself to the purely technical aspects, or making it look like sci-fi only.
• The title's relevance was both obscure and mysterious. It worked as the latter for me.

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER:

• The book ends with no real closure for some rather important questions, which makes the sequel a must read in hopes that it will fill in the answers
• There is a tiny bit of stereotypical forming with the 'good guy' facing moral dilemmas the more he comes to know of the shady world thing.
• For the lead character, Michael could have been a bit more fleshed out.

VERDICT:

Good use of the concepts and clean writing make this book what it is. Good read.

RATING: 4/5

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

E. J. Simon is the author of three commercial fiction thrillers, Death Never Sleeps, Death Logs In and Death Logs Out. He has just completed his fourth manuscript, Death in the Cloud. He is a member of the Authors Guild, the Mystery Writers of America and the North Carolina Writer’s Network. He holds an M.A. in Corporate & Political Communications from Fairfield University and a B.A. in Journalism from the University of South Carolina. He lives with his family in Cary, North Carolina in the United States. For more information, visit his website: www.ejsimon.com.

EDITIONS AVAILABLE: Kindle, Paperback, Hardcover

PRICE $0.92 for Kindle, $4.42 for Paperback, $25.14 for Hardcover

BOOK LINKS: Amazon