BLACKBIRD
By Tom Wright
Published in 2015 by Europa Editions.
Reviewed by K.L. Romo.
Jim Bonham is a police detective living in a small Texas town on the Arkansas-Louisiana-Texas border. His life takes a strange twist when Dr. Deborah Gold, a local psychologist, is found crucified on a tree on the outskirts of town. Bonham must uncover the details of the crime and find those responsible for Dr. Gold’s death.
Blackbird is filled with old skeletons – both Bonham’s and Deborah Gold’s. Bonham’s teenaged life had been ripped apart when his girlfriend Kat disappeared without a trace. Raised by his Grandmother, aunt and uncle on the Flying S Horse Ranch, his cousin LA, was the closest person he had to family. Although Bonham was orphaned, his young life had been filled with friends, fame on the football field, and Kat. Years later, ghosts from Bonham’s past resurface as the strange mystery of Dr. Gold’s crucifixion unfolds, and Bonham is faced with choosing between those closest to him, and bringing justice that is long overdue.
Tom Wright takes the reader on a journey through his characters’ psyches, showing us not only their motivations, but their weaknesses as well. Bonham has dealt with the loss of the people closest to him, and has sometimes lost himself to his anger and pain. Will his emotions get the better of him before the killer is caught?
Blackbird was an enjoyable read, and I recommend it to people who like murder mysteries.
K. L. Romo is a member of the Writers’ League of Texas who lives with her family in Duncanville, Texas. Her new novel – Life Before – about a modern woman who’s suddenly transported back to 1907 Dallas, seeing the world through the eyes of a reformed prostitute who’s determined to seek justice for victims of human trafficking – is scheduled for release in February 2016. You can visit her website here.
