Title: Body in the Woods: A Jack Ludefance Novel
Author: Behcet Kaya
Publisher: Square Fish
ISBN: 169459212X
Genre: Mystery / Suspense
Pages: 294
Reviewed by: Gary Sorkin

Read Book Review

Award-winning author Behcet Kaya has once again brought his PI protagonist Jack Ludefance to life in a novel of suspense and mystery, filled with indelible characters laced with threads of credible circumstances, in his latest book titled Body in the Woods.

Set in the hills in Malibu, California, Jack is asked by his friend, a wealthy businessman in the military defense industry, to come to his aid to help solve a murder; because it seems the client’s business partner’s body has turned up murdered and the police have pegged him as the prime suspect. Although not yet formally charged, he needs Jack’s help to find the real killer and thus secure his freedom, while solving the crime of who actually killed his partner. Jack obliges and travels from his home in Florida to Los Angeles to pick up the case. What begins as a step-by-step private investigation into the evidence surrounding the death of a notoriously cunning, smart and cleverly manipulating x-business partner of Jack’s client, turns into an international quagmire of intrigue, scientific secrets and vast amounts of money. People with power, influence and fortunes are all jockeying for a once-in-a-lifetime business deal, while death surrounds the periphery of their involvement.

What stands out most in this novel is the further character development of Jack Ludefance. Behcet Kaya has crafted a multi-dimensional person with realistic basic desires, toned investigative instincts and human frailty; each of which is candidly exposed throughout the fast-moving chapters. I particularly liked the sequence when Jack got a call from his sister in New Orleans that their father had just passed away. This tangent to the plot adds such an empathically realistic side story, that readers will undoubtedly admire the skillful way the author’s writing expresses emotions most of us who have lost a parent can relate too. Also Jack’s character is extraordinarily humble, not seeking the fanfare or notoriety of solving complex cases, as often in his investigating he does not know what his next step should be; needing time to be by himself, undistracted, to think and figure things out. Those intervals, not only revealing a realistic personality, provide excellent plot-plateaus for having readers pause to contemplate what they might do next if they were in Jack’s situation. It is when Jack does confront a lying or hostile situation, he feels his “hair on the back of his neck stand up,” showing his physiological aptitude of being ideally suited for his profession – a human lie-detector, so to speak.

Behcet Kaya has elevated his mastery of authoring mystery/suspense genre novels to be, in my opinion, into the “Best of the Best” category. Jack Ludefance novels resides in the class of those which can be made into blockbuster movies, not because of Jack being the killer marshal-art type of special agent, capable of destroying a hit squad of seven ninjas coming at him at once, but because he’s likely to be the guy that gets clobbered and knocked out. He’s real, as real as it gets.

Body in the Woods stands on its own merits– not necessarily needing to have readers page through the previous titles, as there is enough background to appease the fans of Kaya’s books without bogging down the plot with historical events. The dialog is crisp and smart, the pages seem to turn on their own, as this book is impossible to put down; at first due to the character development, then again when readers hit the critical mass plot point. It will surprise the savviest of readers with its twists and turns of logic, morality, integrity and honesty.