Liquid Smoke

Jeff Shelby

There's nothing that can make a man's day like learning that the father he never knew is on Death Row awaiting execution within the next month. Noah Braddock and his girlfriend Liz Santangelo see a woman on the beach watching him. Darcy Gill is a lawyer from San Francisco. She doesn't believe in the death sentence and is representing Russell Simington. She came to San Diego specifically to find Noah and tell him the man is his father.

Noah is stunned. Darcy wants him to go to San Quentin and talk to Simington. Instead he talks to Liz, then his best friend, Carter Hamm. Finally he goes to see Simington, although he can't understand why Darcy isn't on the plane with him. From there Noah's life turned.

Things had been going very well. He and Liz were finally at the same place at the same time. He and his mother have come to a truce and he begins to learn about the woman behind the alcoholic he always knew. Now Simington tells Noah to stay out of it. Noah might have if he hadn't returned to San Diego and found Darcy's body in his house. After that he is involved through to the end of Simington's life.

Although Liquid Smoke is an easy read, it is a hard hitting book. Jeff Shelby has added layers to Noah Braddock that were hinted at in the first two books of the series.

There is a prologue at the beginning of the book that foreshadows part of the story line. Once I guessed what I thought was being hidden, I kept hoping I was wrong. I wasn't. But there is more. By the end of the book Shelby throws out a bomb that throws the reader sideways.

The novel is told first person by Noah. Although still surfing, this man is deeper than the surfer dude I met in the earlier novels. He has come to terms with portions of his life that have helped the character mature. Shelby keeps Noah's character tight, with no foreshadowing except for the prologue. Liquid Smoke could have been longer, deeper. Yet Shelby is able to keep it shorter and still impact the reader hard. This is a good book that is easy to read - although I suggest you be in a happy place, not a scary one, when you read it.

Notice:  Graphic violence, Strong indecent language, Suggestive dialogue or situations

Publicist provided for review

Killer Swell
Wicked Break
Liquid Smoke