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Lost Angel
Nik Kane mystery #1

by Mike Doogan



      Alaska is the end of the line for some, or a place of new beginnings. Moses Wright led his followers into the heart of Alaska some forty years ago and founded the Christian community of Rejoice. But next-door is the tough mining town of Devil’s Toe, which is the exact opposite. Now Moses’ granddaughter Faith has vanished, and against his wishes the other elders have called in ex-cop Nik Kane. Once a man with a promising career and a family, seven years in jail for a crime he didn’t commit have left him with no job and a marriage on the rocks. Can he find Faith -in more than one way?

This debut novel takes several elements that are not exactly original (cop on the rocks, religious community, missing person) and makes them into a highly absorbing whole. Alaska comes to life without being too icily beautiful, and the two communities are contrasted without it appearing too staged. So, on the surface we have a bunch of clichés, but I just couldn’t put the book down because this author made it all come to tangible life. Alaska and the wilderness, Devil’s Toe and Rejoice all symbolize parts of Nik’s current situation; but this is not a literary or an inspirational novel, just a well written whodunit. Maybe to its detriment we do hear rather too much about Nik’s wretched state, and only a few pages before the end of the novel I was wondering whether the dénouement would be in a second book. But no, and I didn’t see it all coming so was pleasantly surprised. I do hope that this is the start of a long series.

The Book

Robert Hale
June 2007
Hardback
9780709083337
Crime - Contemporary - Alaska
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Excerpt
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The Reviewer

Rachel A Hyde
Reviewed 2007
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