Title: Sundown: Engineering Gives The Devil A Sunburn
Author: Carl H. Mitchell
Publisher: Covenant Books
ISBN: 978-1640032040
Pages: 424
Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Reviewed by: Anthony Avina
Hollywood Book Reviews
Part of what makes mankind such a fascinating people to see evolve over time is their natural curiosity to understand and solve things that present a mystery. Mystery gets the minds racing and the complexities of society grinding along as the unknowable stays just out of reach of those seeking answers. As Neil Armstrong once said, “Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man’s desire to understand.”
In author Carl H. Mitchell’s Sundown: Engineering Gives The Devil A Sunburn, the author takes readers into a near-future world full of mystery. In the year 2057, the world has become gripped by the all-powerful World Council, who has seized control of the planet’s oil reserves. NYPD Detective Nick Garvey finds himself embroiled in several high-pressure mysteries, as he is put in charge of the homicide investigations of the Vice President and four of his secret service agents. At the same time, he must grapple with the protection of the President, finding justice for his estranged daughter, searching for his kidnapped granddaughter after he gets too close to an awful truth, and eventually his confrontation with the President leads to a dangerous situation with a firing squad. The hunt for the truth bring Nick more danger than he could have ever anticipated.
A truly good police procedural like this has a key ingredient most books aren’t able to capture, and that is a great opening. Rather than slowly start out and build up to the instigating events of the novel, the reader is immediately thrust into a shocking scenario as Nick is presented with the shocking murder of the Vice President and his security team. From there Nick is put into the middle of messy political fallout, corruption, heated family drama and a world running rampant with crime and danger. The author builds a fantastic mystery and thriller narrative while crafting memorable characters and a mythos that adds a healthy amount of science-fiction and political thriller into the mix.
This is the perfect read for those who enjoy active, mind-bending mysteries and thrillers with a good dose of sci-fi and espionage/political thriller narratives for good measure. As a fan of the genres and great mythology, it was refreshing to see the writing of a seasoned criminal thriller writer blend into a semi-futuristic reality that sees major shifts in power around the world. The inclusion of the family drama added depth to the characters and an added element of danger into this already dangerous world.
Overall, author Carl H. Mitchell’s Sundown: Engineering Gives The Devil A Sunburn is a must-read thriller. Evenly-paced and thought-provoking for a healthy mystery thriller, the book crafts a magnificent narrative readers won’t be able to put down, and plunges readers into the depths of what society can and sometimes sadly does look like, and how good people must fight to stop this negative society from cementing itself permanently.