Five Star - 
an Imprint of Gale, Waterville, Maine

Issued in December 2003

===================================== Review by E.Borgers 
=====================================

Max Austin, an ex-FBI agent, lives a quiet life in a farmhouse in rural Kansas, with Binga his German Shepard as companion. To put some beans on the table, Max does PI jobs which interrupt his star gazing, one of his favourite occupations...

   This time, a rather attractive lady lawyer hires Max to help a client of hers, a wife who seems to have gunned down her rich husband near their pool. 
Quickly, Max will discover that the husband's activities in building development and contractor jobs seem entangled with some strange business partners. 
In fact, some clues that he spots on the crime scene do support the wife's version of her husband's death.
Many explanations regarding the husband and wife appear to come from their past and from distant cities. Max will follow the tracks, wherever they bring him; whatever they lead him to, he will dig up. 
Another day at the mill! 

However, on the road Max will face crooked cops, stabbing, gunplay, sudden deaths... and more.
All those annoying details which participate in the chaos of our Universe.
But don't worry, Max will fight entropy and conquer the Cosmos ... 

   A soft-boiled PI story, Max Conquers the Cosmos deals a lot with whodunit-like procedures. Mark Bouton, himself an ex- FBI agent, was involved in all kind of cases concerning bad guys, and of course he knows well how clue analyzing and detailed investigation should work. This yields a novel that holds our interest with the long trail of clues that the PI will explore and with the puzzle that he is reconstructing under our eyes.
A light read that fulfils its purpose: to be a pleasant novel based on a good, well-developed story.
A good travel companion.
 

E.Borgers - 4 November 2003
Copyright © 2003, E.Borgers