Nick Reynolds, his pilot’s rating barely a month old, drops off the radar at night over the Chesapeake Bay. Investigating agencies call it another tragic pilot error accident. No trace of the plane is found in the Bay’s murky waters. Ike Schwartz, erstwhile sheriff of Picketsville, on vacation, is approached by Charlie Garland, an old CIA friend, to look into the disappearance. The missing pilot was engaged to Charlie’s niece and the family is not dealing well with the lack of closure. More importantly, Nick, just before his disappearance, had placed a call to Charlie moments leading him to conclude something more than pilot error might be involved in the disappearance. Ike accepts the assignment as a favor to Charlie and also because vacations do not work for him. Ike’s wide-eyed entry into a simple missing person’s case catapults him into an international thriller á la Robert Ludlum with intimations of terrorism that might threaten the nation and its leaders. Clandestine operations, angry watermen, and out of place dredging spoil complicate Ike’s efforts to unravel the mystery.
Choker (Ike Schwartz Series)
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Ike Schwartz returns to his CIA roots in Ramsey's awkward cozy-thriller hybrid, the fifth in the series to feature the Picketsville, Va., sheriff (after 2008's Stranger Room). While vacationing on the Delaware shore, Schwartz is asked by former CIA comrade Charlie Garland to look into the mysterious disappearance of his niece's fiancé, Nick Reynolds. Reynolds, a pilot and ex-navy man, left an enigmatic voice mail message before he vanished off the radar over the Chesapeake Bay. Schwartz's investigations indicate that Reynolds may have witnessed activities that threaten national security. A Picketsville subplot involving satanic rituals by high school students and missing Communion vessels distracts rather than contributes to the narrative. Ramsay is best when contrasting the smooth professional spies and military men with lively amateurs like the cranky Bunky Crispins, a fiercely independent waterman who shows that it's possible to be a patriot and a rebel at the same time. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
In his fourth outing (after Stranger Room, 2008), Sheriff Ike Schwartz of small-town Picketsville, Virginia, is lured away from a long-overdue vacation and back to the CIA. A former colleague at the agency asks Ike to find his niece’s fiancé, whose small plane vanished over Chesapeake Bay months earlier, just after he left an alarming cell-phone message. As Ike puts together pieces of the puzzle with the help of a local waterman, his findings turn alarming, suggesting a terrorist scheme involving stolen Russian missiles that is far beyond the scope of even 9/11. A subplot in which Picketsville Episcopalian priest Blake Fisher fears teenagers are involved in Satanist activities serves to ground the potentially terrifying plot, as do two romances. The result is a high-concept technothriller with a folksy touch and lots of local color, a winning combination that ought to delight Ramsay fans and win new ones. --Michele Leber
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
exciting investigative thriller,
This review is from: Choker (Ike Schwartz Mysteries (Hardcover)) (Hardcover)
Picketsville, Virginia Sheriff Ike Schwartz is relaxing at the Delaware shore on a vacation when a former associate at the CIA Charlie Garland asks for his help. Charlie wants Ike to investigate the disappearance of his niece's fiancé, Nick Reynolds. Charlie agrees to make inquiries though he wonders why Charlie did not go to official channels
A former US Navy pilot, Nick left a strange voice mail message just before he disappeared over Chesapeake Bay. Ike begins to find frightening information that makes the sheriff wonder if the missing aviator observed a threat to national security that required his being eliminated or going underground. CHOKER is an exciting investigative thriller that freshens up the Schwartz police procedurals (see STRANGER ROOM) with the CIA connection. The story line is superb as Ike delicately balances espionage agents, military brass, and cantankerous civilians. However, when the tale returns to Picketsville where Frank Sutherlin is acting sheriff, the plot loses steam as his inquiry into high school students conducting satanic rites subtracts from the prime investigation. Still with great characterizations and a fascinating main plot, Frederick Ramsay provides readers with an entertaining Ike Schwartz mystery. Harriet Klausner
4.0 out of 5 stars
contains a few flaws, but these are overwhelmed by the great writitng,
By
This review is from: Choker (Ike Schwartz Mysteries (Hardcover)) (Hardcover)
"Choker" is a very well written work of fiction. Frederick Ramsay has a natural gift of story telling that shines here in a story that otherwise goes way over the top for my general tastes.
Basically, what you have here are two story lines. One follows a cop on vacation who is dragged into looking for a downed airplane. The other follows the police officer left in charge of the town and a local priest. This officer gets dragged into investigating a satanism cult. The priest helps out in investigating. The story that follows Ike, the cop on vacation, gets so overblown that is kind of stupid. The good writing cant rescue a plot line that becomes laughable after a while. Sadly I cant get into details without giving away the plot. But trust me, its just too much. All in all, the story misses on two fronts. As I have said several times, the plot gets a little crazy and more than unbelievable. The other front that bothered me was the character development. Its a little hard to put a finger on, but I think that it could be best summed up by saying that the three main characters (the two cops and the priest) are all pretty much the same. They act and react to problems and moral questions in the same way. In my mind, this "problem" I am trying to talk about is the greatest hurdle an author can create for themselves. Ramsay avoids the biggest problem most writers encounter... the narrative is clean and does not feel like it skips from one disjointed narrative to another every chapter. Its sort of like if a movie, say StarWars, had Harrison Ford star not just as Han Solo, but as Luke Skywalker and Obie Wan as well. Thats how it felt skipping from one character to the next here. Like they were very much the same. So, Two big thumbs up for the writing. Its as smooth as can be. A negative strike for character development and another for story line (silly beyond redemption). I think this is Ramsay's first book unless I have things wrong. If thats the case, he has a lot of room to grow. And I will look forwards to many more of his stories in the futur
4.0 out of 5 stars
Big Bang,
By
This review is from: Choker (Ike Schwartz Mysteries (Hardcover)) (Hardcover)
Ike Schwartz, former CIA operative and now sheriff of Picketsville, the small Virginia hamlet, takes a long-delayed vacation on the Maryland shore of Chesapeake Bay. Only it turns out to be a busman's holiday. A friend and former colleague at the CIA asks him to look into the disappearance of his niece's fiancé who was flying over the bay on July Fourth when his plane disappeared from the radar.
Meanwhile, back in Picketsville, trouble was brewing among the high school crowd, giving Ike's deputy trepidations: Should he take action or not? Also, some communion silver has gone missing from the church. What to do about this as well? And are the two things related? While the two separate story lines progress smoothly, the more exciting tale is the one Ike begins to unravel as he looks into the disappearance of the plane. The result is an exciting thriller, well worth the effort to read. This is the third in a well-constructed, finely written series, and let's hope a fourth is in the works. Recommended.
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