At the beginning of the summer I had started reading The Borman Factor: A Nick Borman Thriller by Robert Lalonde. It was a little outside of my comfort zone, being a thriller, but I found nothing to put me off. The writing was good, the characters were well developed, so I continued. Then I stopped. It's a complex story, with a number of characters that weave through and connect. At the beginning of the summer, with my girls home for the summer and my attention regularly pulled away, I found that I couldn't give it the attention it deserved. I set it aside, with the promise that I would come back to it in the fall, if I had an interest. My girls went back to school a week ago and I was drawn back to Lalonde's book. I started again at the beginning, and in the quiet of my daytime home all the connections linked, the characters fleshed, and the mystery unraveled and tied itself up again.
Lalonde's style is dialogue heavy, which may also be common on the genre. Almost all of the forward motion is brought through verbal communication. Lalonde is a no frills kind of writer, much the way news reporters used to be, it's just the facts all the way through, with a few healthy twists and turns and more than one unexpected murder. Nick Borman is a an investigator brought in when a well connected reporter is murdered in broad daylight, and the powers that be refuse to look into the slaying although all the signs for foul play are there. The family hires Borman to get to the bottom of the murder and Borman, in his terse, yet affable way, does just that, and uncovers the cause of the cover up along the way.
Borman has all the characteristics of a successful serial. Lalonde is currently at work on the second of the Nick Borman Thrillers, with a working title, Jinxed. If you like a good thriller, you should get to know Robert Lalonde and his Nick Borman. They'll keep you on the edge of your seat.