Review: Black Coral

Black Coral by Andrew Mayne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sloan McPhearson is one of my favorite sleuths--leaps into the depths, literally and figuratively, without much thought and comes close to disaster often. Still, she is determined to get the bad guy and is ably assisted by her boss and the new diver, Hughes. The UIU never seems to get credit for their work and are hanging on by a thread to even exist. Still, without their investigation of a van submerged near a car crash they are called out to examine South Florida would never have realized there was a serial killer operating in their midst for over 30 years. Sloan's invasion of Big Bill the alligator's lair is almost as hair raising as the climax of the book in which the killer has her almost passed out and destined for the graveyard he has established in the middle of the Everglades. How she gets out of these situations is exciting and satisfying.

The one criticism I have of this book is the lack of explanation of who exactly this guy was and how he knew his first victims or if he did. The questions of his place in the community are raised but never answered.

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