Book review – Watch me die by Lee Goldberg

Reading this book is a sign of how much Amazon and Kindle have changed my reading habits.  I found it on Amazon, by following links from other books and was tempted by positive reviews and the low Kindle price of £2.64.  This is what I found….

…a book written in the first person about a loser called Harvey Mapes whose work as a security guard in a gated community means he sits in a guard booth all day watching the resident’s comings and goings.  Harvey’s life is dull and impoverished – he’s desperate to be someone, ideally a private detective in the style of his hero Travis McGee.  

One day his life changes when a wealthy resident Cyril Parkus asks Harvey to follow and report upon his wife Lauren.  The amateur sleuth sets upon his new job with gusto, juggling his day job with following the beautiful Lauren as unobtrusively as possible.  He soon finds that being a private detective isn’t as easy, or as painless, as he thought!  Needless to say his first assignment turns out to be more complicated than you first think.

As the story progresses, it’s fun seeing whether Harvey, aided by his on/off girlfriend Carol, can become a real PI and make Travis McGee, Magnum, Mannix and his other fictional heroes proud of him.  I found myself cheering on Harvey as he tries to become that PI he desperately wants to be.  And when Lauren…well, you’ll have to read the book to find that out won’t you?

Watch me die is a really entertaining read – so much that I missed my train stop one morning.  For the price it’s definitely worth a try.

Roman crime blogger

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