Pablo’s Apprentice

has southern characters in the tradition of, Faulkner and plot twist that pay homage to, Sidney Sheldon. It’s full of researched detail like a, Jonathan Kellerman novel.

What begins as a brutal crime in California ends on the banks of the Crocodile River in Bhutan along the border with India. Both the protagonist and antagonist are women. Neither was born a bad ass but both end up living in a world too small for the other. One loses the love of her life while the other finds hers. There’s romance, along the lines of 3.5 jalapenos – it’s not Debbie does Dallas or fun with shady Mr. Grey. The novel is subtitled – Where Romance Meets Revenge.

The main genre is criminal suspense – it’s sprinkled with sections that would be considered thriller as well as parts that explore new love – specifically when it’s rebound second choice stuff that gets muddled with social issues. Brandy lost her policeman fiancé to crime and the two of them were part of a kind of group think crowd that leaned right. Toby on the other hand tilts green and neither one of them wants to lose something vital to the other. Dancing with compromise to the background music of senseless and ruthless mayhem puts them in a category all by themselves.