A young man is killed in the middle of a snowstorm by two
hit men using a special pistol. With the victim is the son
of Detective Jeff Bagley, David Bagley. He is the the prime
suspect in the murder. Detective Bagley is not able to investigate
due to his relationship with the suspect so he calls in
his old friend, Max Austin, a private investigator who is
also an ex-FBI agent.
Max takes the case and soon realizes this isn’t a
simple murder case. The victim, Kyle Mossler, was killed
with Curare, a rare and lethal poison. Kyle was one of six
people involved in a company called Securegard which sells
security programs to commercial and government agencies.
Max starts to interview the other members of Securegard
and discovers some disturbing information. Soon two more
members of Securegard die in mysterious ways.
Max finds himself in need of help with the computer angle
so he enlists the help of Marisol, an ex-girlfriend and
head of the computer fraud division at the FBI. As the investigation
continues this just become more confusing and baffling.
Soon events spiral out of control and he finds himself in
jeopardy along with Marisol and another member of Securegard.
And just when Max has it all figured out, he finds there
is more to it than he ever imagined.
Mark Bouton has written an intriguing mystery with a likable
hero who uses analogies involving astronomy hence the title.
The plot was interesting with enough twists and turns to
keep you involved although the ending seemed a bit over
the top…although in this day and age maybe not. Max
was an agreeable character although I would have liked to
have learned more about some of the other characters. Most
of the female characters seemed a little too good to be
true with Max chasing after them like a teenager in lust.
Bouton is a retired FBI agent who uses his knowledge of
the FBI to his advantage when writing about the FBI and
police. Even with the flaws Max Unlocks the Universe is
a good read with a likeable hero.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Andrea Maloney is a stay at home mom and jewelry designer who loves
to read. Her favorite books are mysteries, suspense and thrillers.
She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, two daughters and one
large cat.
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