“West of Sin blazes with page-turning tension, wit, exceptional dialogue, and affable characters.” —Foreword Reviews “Fans of zippy, high-tension thrillers with romantic and humorous elements will be enthralled by this fresh and original novel.” —BookLife Reviews (editor’s pick) “An explosive adventure that pays off repeatedly with nail-biting scenes that often manage to surprise.” … adventure that pays off repeatedly with nail-biting scenes that often manage to surprise.” —BestThrillers.com
“Mr. Lewis has displayed a superb writing talent equal to that of a young James Patterson.” —Affaire de Coeur (reviewer’s pick)
“A very impressive first novel…Lewis knows how to deliver plot twists, things most astute readers will not see coming…A rousing, well-researched thriller.” —Kirkus Reviews
—————
Jennifer Williams hoped her budding relationship with her newly single boss would make this year’s real estate conference bearable. Then she caught her boss in bed with a coworker and sped off into the desert, leaving the conference, the hotel, and the Las Vegas Strip in her rearview mirror.
Lost and alone, she stops for directions at a small-town truck stop and disrupts a robbery in progress. Her presence threatens to escalate the situation, until another bystander—a man running from his own tragic past—steps forward to protect her. She soon learns that the attempted robbery wasn’t what it appeared and that this small town west of Sin City is home to a big secret.
more
Not long after I started reading this book, I found myself wondering if it should come with a warning, something like, “Caution: reading this novel may cause unacceptable spikes in heart rate and blood pressure. Taking a valium or a good strong drink beforehand is recommended.” By midway through, I felt as though I were careening down a twisty, narrow mountain road with no guardrails and no brakes!
I loved the quote attributed to Robin Williams at the beginning: “[Las Vegas] may not be the end of the world per se, but you can certainly see it from there.”
Realtor Jennifer Williams is having the worst day of her life. At a real estate convention in Las Vegas, she is hoping to deepen a budding relationship with her recently divorced boss. Alas, it is not to be. In a classic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, she walks in on a robbery-in-progress at a convenience mart, and her life is forever changed. All hell breaks loose—again and again and again!
To call this simply “a thriller,” as noted in the subtitle, is like calling the Indie 500 “just another car race.” This is a page-turning, breathlessly-paced, action-packed tour de force of a debut novel. Lewis shows a mastery of dialogue, humor, character development, suspense, and plot twists that we might expect from a seasoned author who has already written a dozen novels. I can’t begin to imagine how he will follow up with his next book, but I can imagine his making a big splash in the literary world and, hopefully, beyond. (Amazon Prime Video, are you listening?) As a Texas Hold ’em player on the Vegas strip might say, Lewis’s book is “the nuts.”
This is a thoroughly enjoyable book. The characters are believable, realistic, and easy to relate to. There is plenty of action, although not a lot of suspense, to keep the reader engaged to see what’s next. It is your typical (to a certain extent) romantic thriller in that the female lead meets the male lead and one thing leads to another. I usually avoid romance and romantic suspense because I prefer my mysteries & thrillers to focus on the mystery and thrills. This book didn’t do too badly in that department. At least the requisite sex scene was not overly graphic, and for that I was thankful.
The only criticism I have is the overuse of profanity. I know, I know, you can’t write an action story without it. Well, I beg to differ because I’ve read quite a few amazing thrillers that didn’t use any expletives and I didn’t feel cheated or that the story was unrealistic. But I do acknowledge that that’s just me. Obviously, it didn’t hurt my rating. However, I could have done without all the “religious profanity” and would have been a much happier camper.
The one compliment I want to be sure to pass on since I can be a bit OCD about it is on the editing. I don’t think I saw a single typo in the entire book. That is extremely rare in e-books these days. Now I will admit that I don’t know if Mr. Lewis is self-published or if he has a publisher who provided editing services. Whichever it was, it was terrific.
I will be looking for additional books from Mr. Lewis. He is an excellent writer.