Customer Reviews

Max Unlocks the Universe (Five Star First Edition Mystery)

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I found this book difficult to follow at times. As a result, I did not enjoy it as much as I had hoped.

It's the middle of winter in Kansas. Two young men are standing out in the cold, finishing up an argument. One drops dead. The other is, for obvious reasons, arrested. P.I. Max Austin is called by his pal, Detective Bagley, because his son David is the arrestee. Kyle Mossler is the victim. Both men are part owners of Securegard, a software company selling programs to, among others, the guvmint.

Turns out that David didn't kill Kyle, curare did. Not your usual murder weapon. As Max continues to investigate, two other Securegard owners die. One is probably murder, one looks like an accident. We know better.

Max has lots of connections. He used to be FBI, which comes in handy if one is now a P.I. He taps his connections, muses on life and the solar system, and tries to connect the seemingly random events into some kind of logical system. In the process, he flies all over hell and gone on a seemingly unlimited budget. Gotta love that in a client.

The mystery in MAX UNLOCKS THE UNIVERSE is a reasonably good mystery. Max is charming, intelligent, persistent. The plot certainly works. I kept reading, in spite of some obvious flaws. Max has a thing for astronomy, and the reader is well aware of this. There are lots and lots of data dumps about comets and black holes and other facets of our universe; while Max seems to think they are relevant, the average reader is probably not so sure. Sometimes the prose gets a little overdone. The phrase, "crooks practicing their nefarious trade . . ." sticks in my head, for example. Also, for a former FBI agent, Max seems unaware of certain technological tools available on the open market (such as trackers for vehicles) while being totally cognizant of other tools (telephone taps, etc.). This was disconcerting. Max's trust in his colleagues is heartwarming, but naive. If the data dumps, the verbosity, and the naiveté don't bother you, read on.

Max is back-and it's about time. Well, actually it's about murder and mayhem and space and time and anything else you might want to find in a well-written mystery.
Young computer geeks are dying-well before their time-and ex-FBI agent, Private Eye Max Austin gets involved. To solve the case, and try to save a few lives, Max has to get up to speed on the latest trends in computers and programming. He enlists an old friend, Marisol, to get him into the loop, and she adds a bunch of complications to the case--and to Max's life.
There are lots of great twists and turns, leads and misleads, a bit of traveling around the country tracking down clues, and even a bit of the ol' down and dirty with fists and guns. Max may be a bit past his prime, and even a bit gimpy, but when the goin' gets tough...
Highly recommended...

In a snow storm in the Midwest, Carl and Bones wait for the target to emerge from a house. When "Blue Jacket" does, Bones fires a dart that hits the victim in the neck. The young man collapses instantly as the two hit men drive away.

Local Detective Bagley asks friend former FBI Agent turned private sleuth Max Austin to investigate the homicide of Kyle Mossler as his son David is the prime suspect having been the last person with the deceased. Max learns that David, Kyle and four other people work at Securegard, a computer security firm, and the coroner reported that the cause of death was curare poisoning. When two Securegard people die, one in Denver and the other in San Francisco, Max knows he needs help especially with the computer aspects of the case. He asks his former girlfriend Marisol Vegas to help him uncover the underlying reason why someone is killing the Securegard team.

This is an entertaining private investigative tale in which the hero cannot find a lucid motive to what appears to be three killings though the one in San Francisco is officially considered a car accident. The story line is filled with unusual twists starting with the audience knowing the identities of the two hitmen. Max is the center of the universe as struggles to unlock the mystery. Readers will appreciate his efforts to solve the case and keep the remaining trio alive even as every clue complicates his inquiry and confuses Max.

Harriet Klausner