Windward Passage
Jim Nisbet
Overlook, Apr 1 2010, $25.95
ISBN: 9781590201947

In the Caribbean, the Vellela Vellela partially sinks to the bottom of the shallow sea with smuggler Charley chained to the mast. Inside the small sailboat besides its chained captain on the dry section of the ship is a log with ten pages torn out and ripped off, the DNA of POTUS concealed inside of cocaine, and a partially written novel. None of this makes sense as whoever chained Charley and stole the log pages left behind a fortune.

In San Francisco Charley's sister Tipsy wants answers while drug lord Red Means wants his cargo. They combine their quests taking the booty, trying to learn who killed Charley and several answers to a myriad of why questions like why leave the loot behind, why tearing pages from the log and why the president's DNA was even on board Charley's vessel.

This is a gripping conspiracy thriller that captures the attention of the audience from the moment Charley knows time is running out on him and never let's goes as the reader wants to know the answers to the ton of whys. Fast-paced throughout, the two amateur sleuths follow broken clues in an effort to learn the truth and possess what was left behind. Timely yet eerie in many ways, fans will enjoy this strange but exhilarating tale as political bias trumps over logic, fairness and common good in Jim Nisbet's strong suspense.

Harriet Klausner