Category: Action/Thriller Publisher: Richard David Bach
ISBN-10: 147508045X
Type: Fiction
Pages: 350
Copyright: March 7, 2012
ISBN-13: 9781475080452
Price: $2.99 (eBook)
When attractive young women start disappearing from the luxury cruise ships of Camelot Cruise Line at an alarming rate, company lawyer Raam Commoner and private investigator Kayman Karl team up in a desperate search for a twisted serial killer … never expecting that their greatest threat will come from a common enemy.
“Common Enemy” is the first book in Richard David Bach’s “Common Denominator” series of romantic thrillers. “Common Ground” and “Common Place” will soon be available on your e-reader so keep an eye on our website, Twitter, and Facebook for more details. In the meantime, read Richard’s Thoughts for up-to-date info!
When disappearances from the luxury cruise ships of Camelot Cruise Line begin to threaten the company's business, Viktor Viken, Camelot’s billionaire owner, coerces company lawyer Raam Commoner into doing whatever it takes to stop the seagoing serial killer without a story on the six o’clock news. After a chance but near fatal shipboard encounter, Raam — the tall, good-looking but burned-out womanizer who has been cleaning up after Viktor Viken for years — and Kayman Karl, the smart, beautiful and independent private investigator who has been hired by a distraught father to investigate the cruise line disappearance of his daughter — are compelled to join forces in the search for the motive behind the murders. Opposites attract, but all thoughts of romance are put on hold once it becomes obvious that Kayman fits the profile of previous victims and they must race to find and stop a twisted murderer before he strikes again.
Excerpt
He smiled as he levered her cooling body over the railing and dropped it into the frigid waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The image of her shocked surprise would be his souvenir and for a long time afterwards he would revel in the recollection. “Number sixty-seven,” he thought. “One step closer.”
Professional Reviews
Common Enemy
Kirkus Reviews:
BOOK REVIEW
A lawyer tries to steer a billionaire client’s cruise line free of bad publicity by finding a serial killer before he continues making female passengers disappear in this debut thriller.
Raam Commoner, a Los Angeles attorney who has just returned from a two-year tour in Afghanistan, is almost immediately picked up by Viktor Viken’s goons. Viktor’s business empire, including Camelot Cruise Lines, has solidified counsel Raam’s position at his firm, despite partners disapproving of his (possibly dubious) manner of maintaining ties with the thuggish businessman. But Camelot has a problem: a man calling himself Mr. Dinia sends a video in which he, with his face and voice disguised, boasts of the people he’s murdered, namely nine on Viktor’s ships—and a forthcoming 10th. Viktor wants Raam to track down the killer, afraid the notoriety surrounding any police scrutiny would ruin his business. Retaining the secret becomes hard enough for Raam, with the family of one of the missing passengers hiring private investigator Kayman Karl, and an anonymous message demanding money to keep mum about the serial killer. But Dinia gleefully toys with the lawyer, sending emails in which the killer takes credit for a few murders (individuals whom Raam knows) and lodging the occasional threat. Raam’s romance with Kayman only complicates matters, because her concurrent investigation likewise puts her in danger. The story subverts a traditional mystery with absorbing tangents, including an alleged victim Dinia names in his video but who doesn’t seem to have been a passenger, and Tony Bartholomew, a nosy, antagonistic attorney at Raam’s firm. Though some are red herrings, Bach still manages to link them somehow to the main plot. Raam’s not initially likable, with his wake of girlfriends and exes collectively and flippantly known as “Commoner College.” His attraction to Kayman, however, gradually turns into something substantial and maybe even sentimental, while the savvy, physically capable private eye more than holds her own. Most readers will likely work out the killer’s identity before the protagonist, so that the final act, which entails the explanation of Dinia’s cryptic clues, comes across as an overly complex, roundabout way of unmasking a murderer.
A dandy tale whose deviations prove just as much fun, if not more so, than the murder mystery itself.
This was no mere illusion. Colin Chase Rand, pulled through a magical portal, landed in 1935 where the dust bowl and the Great Depression was destroying lives, and a serial killer was in their midst
