REBEL ISLAND
Rick Riordan
Bantam
Thriller
ISBN-10: 0553804235
ISBN-13: 9780553804232

Rebel Island is a “mile-long, thin strip of beach and cord grass that stretches north like a comet’s tail. The southern end is half a mile wide --- just big enough for the lighthouse and the rambling old hotel…”

The island gets its name from Colonel Duncan Bray, a crazy rebel who fought in the final battle of the Civil War and who was convinced that Rebel Island was Confederate soil. Bray’s house, now the Rebel Island Hotel, has weathered half a dozen hurricanes, but Hurricane Aiden is testing the limits of the island, the hotel and its inhabitants.

When Tres Navarre, his pregnant wife Maia and wheelchair-bound brother Garrett step off the ferry at Rebel Island, they are met by U.S. Marshal Jesse Longoria, a ruthless man who is rumored to have killed six men in cold blood. There's bad blood between Longoria and Tres, and the marshal warns Tres to get back on the boat. Tres refuses to leave.

Longoria turns up dead with a bullet hole in his chest, and with the approaching storm, the killer is unable to leave the island. The storm has knocked out the phone lines, there’s no mobile service, cell phones won’t work and the island’s only shortwave radio has been smashed to pieces. In Longoria’s room, the killer left behind a crumbling candy skull wrapped in plastic.

The Day of the Dead candy is the calling card of Calavera. The notorious assassin is known for using explosives to blow up his victims across South Texas. Was Longoria on the island to apprehend Calavera? Is the assassin still in the hotel?

As Tres tries to make sense of it all, the manager of the hotel goes missing, and a note with the words “Find Him” is slipped under Tres’s door. When the manager is later found dead, stuffed in a refrigerator, the list of suspects grows, as does the velocity of the impending storm.

REBEL ISLAND has a collection of characters spicier than Texas barbeque sauce. Chase, Markie and Ty are a trio of college students out for a good time --- or maybe they're looking for something more. Benjamin Lindy is an elderly Texan lawyer who keeps his gun, and his secrets, close to his chest. Alex, a childhood friend of Garrett’s, served in the Army in Kuwait and is known for creating fireworks displays. Lane is running away from an abusive spouse. And there’s Imelda and her husband Jose, who are caretakers for the hotel. They may know more about the murders and the whereabouts of Calavera than they are willing to tell. The end result is a heart-pounding thriller with twists and turns, and justice served up Texas-style.

    --- Reviewed by Donna Volkenannt (dvolkenannt@charter.net)

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