Customer Reviews

Roan's Requiem

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As husband of Frances Kavanaugh, legendary Hollywood Westerns screenwriter, Robert L. Hecker certainly has a muse. He is also extremely accomplished, having had a distinguished career flying missions during World War II. He spent his career after the war writing radio and TV dramas, and then morphed into writing more than 500 documentary and marketing films dealing with a wide range of subjects. Robert also has a degree in music and has begun writing songs in the country, gospel, and big-band genres. He has eight mysteries to his credit, and ROAN'S REQUIUM is the first Benjamin Roan mystery in a series.

Benjamin Roan co-owns a high-tech security company in Newport, California. At the beginning of this industrial espionage tale, Roan has landed in Mbarabab prison in Uganda, Africa after being arrested on trumped up charges while trying to deliver a computer. He and his cellmate, Jack Blutcher, escape and make their way back to California, where Roan is welcomed back by the employees of his company but receives a somewhat tepid and mysterious reception from the love of his life:

"Throughout dinner she was strangely silent, scarcely toughing her food. I had also lost my appetite. Something had come between us and I couldn't figure out what it was. I wanted to recapture the spell that had been there when I had taken her into my arms at her apartment. Love had been there. I was sure of it."

There is something captivating about lost love, and Hecker makes the most of it in this riveting tale of industrial spy games. Hecker cooks up one heckuva great plot which puts Benjamin Roan in one tight spot after another before he finally comes up with the tragic answer to his questions and nabs the bad guys. Roan's serious determination is offset by his friend Jack's antics, but together they make a pretty good team.

ROAN'S REQUIEM is a most excellent page turner that captures the imagination of the reader from the very first page. Robert L. Hecker's high level of writing expertise is apparent in this sizzling story. Hecker's attention to the vagaries of love and the ruthlessness of greed form the cornerstone of this eminently entertaining tale.

Shelley Glodowski

Senior Reviewer