Title: Medusa’s Lair
Subtitle: A Chic Sparks-Fish House Gang Novel
Author: Kenneth L. Funderburk
Publisher: Author’s Tranquility Press
Pages: 203
Genre: Fiction / Crime / Thriller
Reviewed by: Jake Bishop
Hollywood Book Reviews
The Medusa of the title is one bad lady who’s good at pulling the wool over people’s eyes and putting heat between the sheets as she sets her sights on increasing both her prestige and power in decidedly criminal ways. But before she starts setting the pages of this novel afire, there’s an awful lot of dastardly deeds that go down off-shore and on-shore as well. In fact, it’s almost impossible to get from one chapter to the next without a major moment, or two, of mayhem. Author Kenneth L. Funderburk has decided to make the pace of his potboiler full-throttle, and readers who decide to come along are in for a wild ride.
The plot involves two Latin drug cartels that take issue with one another over turf and tides. In the middle of an early storm at sea, gunshots do more damage that mountainous waves as one group descends upon the other with deadly force. Very soon, payback is called for and a scheme is set in motion to send an unmistakable message that there will be hell to pay for challenging established boundaries.
In the middle of all of the above, Chic, a Pensacola clinical psychologist who sometimes moonlights as a police profiler, finds himself and his girlfriend, Suzy, in real danger of being swept into the fray. They had sent some of the criminals’ sinister soldiers to early graves in events previous to those now unfolding before them. Realizing that trying to avoid trouble might indeed be infinitely more dangerous than taking it on, Chic sets out to find answers to unanswered questions and get the bad guys before they get him and Suzy. In doing so, he’ll need to shoot his way out of more than one attempt on his life and the lives of those around him.
The author proves himself both an imaginative and capable storyteller. He fills this adventure yarn with enough details and specifics to keep it from being purely a run-and-gun rip-off. Money laundering schemes are described intricately. Drug smuggling is depicted with insightful authenticity. Boats, motors, and marine paraphernalia are illustrated with conciseness and clarity. His scenes of suspense build to rousing climaxes and his characters come across as folk that readers are not likely to forget. Particular standouts include a redneck country cousin and the hotblooded anti-heroine of the title.
Medusa’s Lair is a potent page-turner. If you find it particularly appealing, you may want to check out the story that actually sets this one in motion, Funderburk’s The Fish House Gang.