One Deadly Sister [Format Kindle]

A very creative and enjoyable first novel, Rod Hoisington has created a complicated whodunit with red herrings to spare. At the basic root we have the remaining two members of a family, a brother and sister, who have had no real contact since the day their parents died several years ago. In fact, sister Sandy is living her well-ordered life quite satisfactorily, thank you, doing legwork for a highly respected law office. A late night call brings her brother Raymond back into her life like a slap in the face, she has all but disowned him and the call is like a blast of ice. He is calling from a Florida jail in a small town, with a murder rap hanging over his head. Sandy is determined that in no way is she going to help him, she is still too angry about his lack of support for her when she needed it.

A quick look at the News, and she starts to get second thoughts. Too many questions, Ray is not the type to murder anyone, much less a high-profile Senator. Confusion reigns as she arrives to find her brother being railroaded through the system so that State Attorney Moran can win a famous trial whether his "held in custody" suspect is guilty or not. Moran is ignoring the many other possible suspects and zeroing in on his target, creating a case for conviction. A stranger in town? What a break for him, everyone will hate this guy Ray for assassinating their Senator!

From this point on, there are misunderstandings, misdirections, underestimations, especially underestimating Sandy, a pit-bull in a sexy body. Ludicrous statements and outright lies are flying everywhere. Not only are there lots of twists in the case itself, but in the many strange relationships that show up here and there throughout. This book is written almost tongue-in-cheek and I loved it. It grabs hold of you early on and you can't get away from it. The action suddenly takes off with a few diverse leads and builds very quickly toward the final setups, lies and implausibilities that give the reader a sense of fun and satisfaction as the story finally wraps up all the loose ends, finding more to deal with than meets the eye. I will definitely be looking for another novel by Rod Hoisington!

Book Title: One Deadly Sister
Author: Rod Hoisington
Publisher: Entera Books
ISBN: 9780615298528
Reviewed by Michele Tater for Review The Book

The book "One Deadly Sister", I felt is a murder mystery at its best. The author takes you on a who-done-it ride which includes the introduces of several characters, which can be likable as well as unlikable. These people all have their own dirty laundry and guilty pleasures that play out with every turn of the page. It is also a look at how a innocent man can be so mix-up in the lives of others that he is arrested for a crime he did not commit, or did he.

Even though there are several characters in this story, they are skillfully developed and can be easy followed. The main character Ray seems to be the man with the worst luck ever. I felt bad that he has was being used as a pawn in everyone's game where he had no game in anything. Even the police department, along with the state attorney, just wanted to nail Ray's coffin and be done with it. Since I is have worked in several law firms in the past and have a Paralegal Degree , I was able to identify with Ray's sister Sandy. She came across as one tough cookie that would not take stuff from anyone, including the law enforcement individuals who were handling her brothers case. There were also characters I loved to hate, for example, Loraine who thought she could wiggle her way out of anything, and believe me she tries a lot.

I would recommend "One Deadly Sister" to anyone who enjoys a good mystery with many plot twists and of course some turns added for a good measure of suspense. Although I was trying to figure the who did it part, many things were not what they seemed. So you really have to read the book all the way through. No fair peeking to the end either, its well worth the wait. There is brief sexual content, mostly pg rated. It also has a great and realistic story line that will keep you guessing till the end.

Murder invades a small coastal town when the novel's protagonist, Ray Reid, has his life thrown in chaos. The tranquility is shattered as Ray Reid confirms the harsh reality that he does not understand women. It is this lack of understanding women then propels him to have sex with the local femme fatal, a seventy-year woman who wears a thong. This sexual encounter ensures that his recovery from divorce will not be smooth. If this story line does not get your full attention, then you need to check your pulse.

Creative writing instructors advise beginning a novel with a "hook" to entice the reader. In this novel, the protagonist's sister tells him to go to hell. Thus, the reader wants to continue with the story simply to find out more about the animosity between the two siblings. The reader continually is surprised with each new plot twist. The first introduction to the personality of Ray Reid occurs as he sits in a jail cell trying to convince his younger sibling to come to his rescue. As a stranger in town, he has nowhere else to turn. However, the younger sister has never forgiven him for not coming to her rescue when she was a teenager. Thus, this not so latent hostility is an undercurrent throughout the sibling story line.

As the plot evolves, the kinds of colorful characters that populate Elmore Leonard novels are effectively introduced to the reader. Politics, real estate investments and the inadequacies of a small town police force put the story into a roller coaster trajectory. It soon becomes clear that the arrest was made based solely on the high profile of a single victim, a potential gubernatorial candidate. The arrest is further complicated by the fact that the local prosecutor has designs on a possible run for the U. S. Senate. Surprises are revealed in the final chapters, as more deceit and double-crossing are uncovered.

I, for one, can hardly wait for the publication of the next Rod Hoisington mystery.