MATT COYLE - YESTERDAY'S ECHO (2013)

Synopsis/blurb….

Rick Cahill was never convicted of his wife's murder, but he was never exonerated either. Not by the police. Not by the media. Not even by himself. Eight years later, police suspicion and his own guilt remain over his responsibility in his wife's death. When he meets Melody Malana, a beautiful yet secretive TV reporter, he sees a chance to love again. When she is arrested for murder and asks Rick for help, the former cop says no, but the rest of him says yes and he grasps at a chance for redemption. But Rick's attempt to help turns terribly wrong, and he becomes a suspect in the murder and the target of a police manhunt. On the run, Rick encounters desperate people who'll kill to keep their pasts buried. Before Rick can save himself and bring down a murderer, he must confront the truth about his own past and untangle his feeling for a woman he can never fully trust.

BOOM! One page shy of 300 and I read this cover to cover in about 2 days flat.

Rick Cahill - ex-cop - with a troubled past, now working in the restaurant business, gets involved with a reporter, who herself has a shady past and a few secrets. Shortly after helping her evade a vindictive associate in his restaurant, the couple wind up in bed together.

A day later and Rick is immersed into another on-going nightmare. Most of the law-enforcement community in his area already think he pulled an OJ – by murdering his wife and skating free. Now Melody’s ex-husband - one of the guys she was in disagreement with the previous night has turned up dead, a few hours after Melody left Rick alone in his bed.

In addition to getting dragged into another murder case, the new life he’s forged for himself in partnership with his long-time friend, “Turk” Muldoon is threatened by the manipulative ex-Vegas casino man – Peter Stone. Stone is holding the proverbial loaded gun to Turk’s head and Rick’s life as a restaurateur just became untenable. Unless of course, he swallows his pride and accepts a role as Stone’s paid gopher.

Career problems soon take a back-seat when an article of Rick’s turns up at the murder site. A genuine mistake, or is someone setting him up?

Police, restaurant, blackmail, extortion, drugs, corruption, politicians, sex-tapes, lap-tops and lock-ups, death, DNA, secrets, hookers and businessmen, gambling, friendship, a dead ex-wife and a bitter family, bad publicity, social leprosy, stigma, TV, media, a ghost from the past, cops with an agenda and an ever-tightening net = frustration and the triggering of a primitive survival instinct.      

Cahill has a choice – flight or fight.

Really enjoyable, a tick in every box – setting, pace, plot, action, character, with a believable hero and satisfying resolution. 

  

Author Matt Coyle just got added to my list of must-read authors.

5 from 5

Bought recently on either Amazon or Abe.

Matt Coyle has his website here.

He's on Twitter - @coylem

His second Rick Cahill novel - Night Tremors should feature tomorrow or the day after!