Customer Reviews

Rum Point: A Baseball Novel

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I will start by saying that I am a friend of Rick and could be considered biased. That out of the way I will say I am not biased when I say this is an excellent novel. The subtitle say, "A baseball novel" but it is real a baseball novel and a murder mystery. A guy comes ashore in Florida, and is murdered for a flash drive he has. The murderer doesn't find the flash drive. A female cop finds the body, and starts investigating. Her father is the manager of the baseball team. There is a memory challenged television reverend who owns the baseball team. One of the bad guys works for the reverend. The plot is good, and builds quickly, More murders, attempted murders, and shenanigans galore. I read a lot of murder mysteries and science fiction. This was one of those that I started reading on the airplane and didn't want to put down. By the end of the book, I couldn't put it down. That doesn't happen to me very often. Baseball, murder, Florida, the Cayman Islands, sea turtles--it has everything. Hope you enjoy it.

Let me preface my review by saying that this is not a pure baseball book anymore than the 'Art of Fielding' is a total baseball book. Baseball is a large part of the story but, as the Amazon description of the book indicates, it is "a unique blend of modern mystery thriller and baseball narrative." I suspect the publisher put the tag "A Baseball Novel" under the title. Apparently the Amazon description escaped some reviewers who were expecting "Eight Men Out."
Residents of the Tampa Bay area will love the real and fictional locales, cuisines and watering holes. The baseball angle is hard to beat. (Self disclosure) I played against Mr. Wilber in the old Men's Senior Baseball League which gets a nice nod in this book and his father played for the St. Louis Cardinals so his passion and knowledge of baseball are honest and spot on. He knows what he's talking about. If you played the game at any level or are a fan of the game, I respectfully submit that you'll enjoy the baseball part and the book as a whole. Non-Floridians should know that the author captures the 'feel' of the Tampa Bay area very well. Mystery fans will not be distracted by the baseball.
I've recommended this book to many non-baseball people and they all told me they enjoyed the book for it's murder mystery angle. It IS a mystery thriller.
In closing, I read this book when it first came out as I tend to support local authors and long enjoyed the fiction the author wrote for the Tampa Tribune. Clearly, he's no longer a 'local' author except geographically. This book is ready for prime time.
While checking to see if the book was in-stock for a friend I saw a couple of negative reviews that peaked my curiosity. In researching one reviewer's 'reviews,' they appear to be a professional 'negative' reviewer on all products. I'm not saying this book is immune to a negatve review and no book is 'everyone's cup of tea' but I do like to see the credentials of a reviewer (this is my first, ever).
Spring Training starts here in a couple of weeks. I highly recommend this book to get you in the baseball mood or to satisfy the need for a good thriller. Or, both...
'Rum Point' is good enough to be endorsed by Peter Straub and that's good enough for me. I recommend 'buy!'

I thought this got off to a decent start. Then, it seems like the author got so caught up in creating an action-packed plot line that he forgot about making the book readable. About 2/3 of the way through, I realized I really didn't care what happened to the book's characters, and I just skimmed to the end to see how it wrapped up.

In order for the reader to buy into this book, you have to be willing to go along with a Major League Franchise in a small town owned by a Mega-Ministry funded by the Columbian drug cartel (most of that is in the first chapter, no spoilers). They play in Ministry Park and the team name, get this is The Crusaders (no, seriously).

If you can swallow this, then the story moves quite well. The author is a good writer and does dialogue well.

There are some things that made me a little nuts - a female cop who simply won't call other police no matter how bad things get for her. Two supposedly professional former CIA hitmen who can't manage to kill anyone after the first chapter except by accident (although its not supposed to be a comedy). And an entire cast of characters that can't seem to put it together that all of the attempts of murdering them are somehow linked.

By the way - Jamaican Blue Mountain is coffee. Not whatever alcohol the author implied it was.

As for being a "Baseball Novel" - not so much. There are some baseball references, and the auther is clearly a sophisticated fan of the sport. But the baseball part is incidental to the rest.

Rick Wilber spins a tightly tangled web based on his real-life knowledge of the setting and subject. "Rum Point" is a murder thriller built into the mechanics of a major league baseball team in St. Petersburg, FL. Spicy complications don't interfere with a swift narrative and colorful characters on both sides of the law. Very enjoyable writing style and plot.