Murder on the Mind - Review

I read a promo blurb for this book and was intrigued—but cautious. The book market is replete with "paranormal" story lines, and not all are to my liking. Many often veer into "possession" and demons and external mind manipulation. Not my style. I prefer extra-sensory perception (ESP) that is entirely within the character.

After reading the free sample chapters of Murder on the Mind I was more caught by the very ESP circumstances of protagonist Jeff Resnick. I bought the Kindle edition and started reading....

And couldn't stop reading.

The first-person presentation was well executed and I was drawn in to Resnick's unique mental circumstance as well as his personal reuniting with older half-brother Richard Alpert. Jeff Resnick had been victim of a brutal New York City mugging that left him physically and economically stranded. Richard, a doctor and heir to millions, rescues him and takes him to their boyhood city of Buffalo, where Richard currently lived. Jeff must overcome his often negative feelings toward his brother and deal with depressing memories in mini-mansion where he lived after their mother died.

Throughout his recovery, Resnick is bombarded with images of a ghastly killing that soon becomes public knowledge; but Resnick had known about it long before the crime was committed. ESP. Is he going mad? Does he really have a gift? He begins his own investigation into the crime.

The story development was a good as the character development. Descriptions weren't limited to the gory and gruesome, but included persuasive descriptions of Buffalo, its where's-my-heavy-coat weather and surrounds. Richard and his significant other, Brenda, were complete and interesting. This being the first of a series, some things were left to develop in later books, such as Jeff's relationship with Maggie.

Did this book have any faults? Of course. Nothing is perfect. I was a bit dissatisfied with the denouement scene, which seemed a bit contrived. There were a few standard mystery-writer clichés that might have been left out. Bur none were terribly detracting. Murder on the Mind is a gripping and well wrought mystery.