Too Far Gone

I have read all of John Ramsey Miller's books, this is the fourth. They are all excellent page turners. This one is no exception.

Miller writes very exciting and fast paced thrillers, usually with the main character Winter Massey. This book introduces FBI Special Agent Alexa Keen who is caught up in an alleged abduction in the big easy right before hurricane Katrina hits. The plot is fast paced with a lot of action and suspense. Alexa meets some very interesting and deadly characters throughout the investigation. However the last chapter or so seems a bit too contrived and the ending is something of a let down. That is all that can be said without giving away too much. Overall a good thriller/police procedural. I'm sure Alexa will be back.

Thank God for writers like John Ramsey Miller. I read a lot of thrillers, and I often lament that the genre has been largely hijacked by franchise names who write the same book over and over. All too often, pacing and high concepts masquerade as real writing--cartoon good guys clash with cartoon bad guys, and there's never a real doubt about who's going to win and who's going to lose. It's all fine as a guilty pleasure, but John Ramsey Miller brings me back to the good old days when reading mattered as much as an art form as it did as a pastime. Mr. Miller writes more than a mere book; he writes an experience. Every character has a heartbeat, every scene a physical weight and a perfectly realized sense of place. Set in the underbelly of New Orleans and its surrounding bayous, TOO FAR GONE pulses with life. It rings with the kind of truth that can only be experienced first-hand, and can only be brought to the page at the hand of a truly gifted writer. Like every talented artist, Miller does it so well that it looks easy. TOO FAR GONE offers terrific characters caught in the grip of kidnapping, murder and a deadly storm. Every moment is real enough to touch. The twists are truly surprising and the pacing never lets up. It simply doesn't get better than that.

Days before Hurricane Katrina is considered a threat, FBI Agent Alexa Keen is in New Orleans attending a conference when she receives a late night phone call from the head of Homicide Detective Manseur concerning missing person Gary West. His wife believes that he has been kidnapped; it is well known amongst police circles that Alexa is the best at finding the victims before they are killed. This case is high profile because Gary is married to Casey LePointe West, the niece of powerful influential William Le Pointe, head of the family trusts. William wants to handle the incident privately but Casey insists law enforcement become involved especially insuring Alexa is brought into the investigation. Alexa agrees with Casey's assertion that her husband has been abducted because in a few days part of her fortune was to be turned over to him, a powerful motive. The deeper Alexa digs, the more she comes into contact with cold case crimes impacting this one as an evil person kills anyone that might interfere with the master plan. John Ramsey Miller, author of the Winter Massey novels, has written a thrill a minute police procedural that is so loaded with surprising twists, readers will need seatbelts to avoid whiplash as we eagerly wait to see what spin happens next. Alexa is a strong bold yet believable character while Katrina takes on a life of its own as New Orleans' ambience before, during, after provides incredible background depth. Though the villain is a caricature of malevolent conspiratorial plotters, TOO FAR GONE is a powerful mystery. Harriet Klausner