Title: Plot Twist
Author: Donna J. Thompson
Publisher: ReadersMagnet
ISBN: 978-1959165255
Pages: 214
Genre: Fiction / Detective / Crime / Mystery
Reviewed by: Jake Bishop

Read Book Review

In this contemporary novel by author Donna J. Thompson, the location is Springfield, Ohio. The crime is kidnapping. Then it’s murder. Wait a minute. Was it really a kidnapping? It was definitely murder because there’s a body with bullet wounds to the heart and head. Which rules out suicide, one assumes. But you can’t be too sure about anything in this bending, intwining, revolving and evolving mystery that more than lives up to its title.

The detective assigned to the case is Karl Larkin. He’s a long-divorced fellow whose wife left because she felt he was more devoted to his job than her. Which, he probably was. Larkin is an upright fellow however, who does things by the book and almost always gets his man. But this case is giving him fits. Both intellectually and emotionally. Intellectually because the potential suspects keep increasing exponentially. Emotionally because one of those suspects is a brainy and beautiful lady that Larkin is enamored with even though he knows the potential pitfalls of falling for a suspect. She’s rather taken with him as well. But is the attraction really mutual or simply a ruse to throw him off the scent by further fogging his feelings about her?

As the plot unwinds, revelations come at a dizzying pace. Relatives in a large family are not necessarily the progeny they appear to be. Dastardly behavior from the past is uncovered that could have major implications for multiple suspects in the present. Secrets, lies, tricks and more, complicate the intrepid Larkin’s attempt to bring finality to the case. As he gets closer and closer to the truth, his relationship with the lovely lass heats up and threatens to derail his investigation – and perhaps his career.

Intricate storytelling is front and center in this imaginative police procedural and nuanced mystery. The author peels back layers of the plot’s onion seductively, but not so slowly that it impedes its overall pace. Secondary characters come across as fully formed and add interest in their respective roles. Sidekicks are supportive, miscreants are slimy, and some small-town folk who appear later in the narrative run the gamut of lazy lout to matronly martinet to earnestly interested and helpful.

Appropriately, author Thompson saves some of the sharpest turns in her chronicle for a revelatory climax. By novels end, the writer has left no doubt, and the reader will understand implicitly why this particular whodunit is titled Plot Twist.