A Coin for Charon

Marlowe Gentry Thriller, Book 1

By: Dallas Mullican

Narrated by: Kevin Clay

Gabriel isn't murdering anyone. He's saving them. The media has dubbed him the Seraphim Killer. He believes the gods have charged him to release The Chosen - those for whom life has become an unbearable torment. Gabriel feels their suffering: His hands burn; his skull thunders; his stomach clenches. Once they are free, he places gold coins over their eyes, to pay Charon for passage into Paradise.

Detective Marlowe Gentry has spent the past two years on the edge. The last serial killer he hunted murdered his wife before his eyes, and left his young daughter a mute shell. Whenever the girl looks at him, her dead eyes push him farther into a downward spiral of pain and regret. The Seraphim Killer is his opportunity for revenge, a chance to forgive himself - or die trying.

Is Gabriel a messenger of god?

Is Marlowe on a mission of redemption - or revenge?

The truth is hiding somewhere in the night.

A Coin for Charon (A Marlowe Gentry Thriller) from Scarlet Galleon Publications, LLC

©2017 Scarlet Galleon Publications (P)2019 Scarlet Galleon Publications

A solid thriller...

A solid police procedural thriller with some flair.

A COIN FOR CHARON is a rather interesting thriller. Fundamentally a police procedural, we follow Marlowe Gentry, a detective with a hard past with haunting demons, as he pursues a serial killer known as The Seraphim, who is both gentle and brutal with his victims. Choosing them because of their sadness or suicidal state, he puts them to sleep before dispatching them, then arranging their innards in a brutal religious ritual, one meant to bring the victim peace so they may go on to Heaven.

On the periphery of this main plotline, we have Max--a dying cancer patient who hasn't told his family of his ailment, even after they leave him--and Becca--a psychiatrist who treats people like Max to cope with what they're going through. At first, as the story is still in the early stages, I had no idea how Max of Becca's story arcs fit into the bigger picture. I was thrown for a bit because we switched from the procedural to Max, and it seemed completely unrelated, and then Becca, too, seemed out of place. I started to wonder if I had accidentally picked up the wrong book, but as the story continued to unfold, we see how first Becca is drawn into the story from the periphery, and later, Max. It was THIS aspect of the novel that set it apart for me. The procedural plot was all solid, but it wasn't anything particularly new. However, the powerful moments of Max's emotional struggles were charged with heartache and desperation, and it was very compelling. In fact, I found myself tearing up a time or two as his situation becomes more and more dire. I cared about Max more than any other character in the book.

The prose is neither over the top nor is it simplistic. It services the genre very well without being devoid of flair. Very straightforward for the most part, but touching on some more poetic moments in some of the softer parts of the novel. The dialogue was believable and helped drive the narrative forward. All in all, this is a solid read that left me curious to see more from Mullican.

The narration was good, not the best I've ever heard, but the voice and cadence was nice and it never pulled me out of the story.

If you're a fan of Michael Connelly type police procedural thrillers, you should give this one a chance. The orbiting stories around the main plot that ultimately come crashing into the forefront of the narrative help set this one apart as something that stands solidly on its own, and I think anyone looking for a good mystery-thriller will have a good time with this one. Well done.

Characters are too wacky

These characters are a little too wacky for my taste. There are just too many hallucination and dream sequences. And sometimes it's difficult to tell when
the character is experiencing one of these. Also, the romance is too predictable.

Other than that, the story is suspenseful and the narration by Kevin Clay is absolutely outstanding. I especially like his voicing of Gabriel, but all
of his character voices are appropriate and well done.

NOTE: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

A very dark thriller

A coin for Charon is a superb dark police thriller.Performance is excellent, it is without doubt a great storyline and reallywwell crafted piece of entertainment.
I received a free copy of this audio book at my own request and voluntarily left this honest review.