A Chaser On The Rocks by Simon Maltman

Book Description:

Hardened by the mean streets of Belfast, ex-cop Brian Caskey works as a struggling PI. He is isolated and erratic, often losing the battle to maintain his fragile mental health. Caskey escapes the world by writing crime fiction stories about a 1940’s PI investigating mysteries during the Belfast Blitz.

‘A Chaser on the Rocks’ follows both these characters in parallel as a ‘novel within a novel’. The two stories collide in a dramatic conclusion set against the backdrop of The Giant’s Causeway.

Simon Maltman has created a modern noir with a new twist, a dash of black humour and a fresh approach and comment on storytelling.

My Thoughts:

I have read a couple of short stories previously by this author which I really enjoyed and have been dying for him to write a longer length novel. Well that day has finally arrived!

A Chaser on the Rocks is still quite a relatively quick read and would say it probably falls more under the novella status than an actual novel as it only took me a couple of hours to fully read it.

What I love about this authors work is that he always manages to grab the readers attention straight away and draw the reader right into the story.

I enjoyed how the novel flicks between Chapman a PI in the 1940’s and modern day with ex cop Brian. The chapters with Chapman were full of mystery and suspense and felt very much like reading an Agatha Christie novel. The pace was one where you could put your feet up and devour the descriptions of the setting and let Chapman solve his cases in a quite laid back effort. I loved it!

The chapters with Brian in were a bit more complicated. It didn’t take long to work out that things are not quite right in his world. I did have a few doubts as to where the author was going with Brian’s story  but by the end it all becomes crystal clear where you have that eureka moment.

With relatively short chapters, A Chaser on the Rocks is a novel that will capture its readers minds. The author plays and teases with you, not fully letting you in until the end. Packed full of mystery and suspense this is definitely an author to watch out for.

My thanks to the author for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Amazon rating 4/5 stars.

A Chaser On The Rocks is out now and available to purchase from Amazon.