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Matt Royal Mystery #3
Blood Island
Best-Selling and Award-Winning Author What's happening on this island will make your blood run cold Matt Royal never has to look far for excitement. Excitement—and sometimes trouble—has a way of finding him first. But for this fun-loving lawyer turned beach bum, things are about to get serious. Dead serious. When his ex-wife asks for help in tracking down her stepdaughter, last seen in Matt's hometown of Longboat Key, Matt agrees to do a little searching. But what looks like the case of one missing girl turns out to be something much bigger—and much more dangerous. Enlisting the aid of his buddies Jock Algren and Logan Hamilton, Matt launches a full-speed-ahead search that leads from Longboat Key to Key West to an ominous strip of land called Blood Island. But this is no island paradise. Blood Island is home base to a cult of religious zealots. And they're making devastating plans that could change the world forever. Bullets fly, and as the clock ticks down, it will be up to Matt to make sure that what happens on Blood Island stays on Blood Island.Perfect for fans of Robert Crais and John Sandford While all of the novels in the Matt Royal Mystery Series stand on their own and can be read in any order, the publication sequence Island Wyatt's Revenge Bitter Legacy Collateral Damage Fatal Decree Found Chasing Justice Mortal Dilemma Vindication
252 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 1, 2008
354 people are currently reading
529 people want to read
About the author
H. Terrell Griffin
18 books91 followersAward-winning novelist H. Terrell Griffin is a board-certified trial lawyer who practiced in Orlando for thirty-eight years. He and his wife, Jean, divide their time between Longboat Key, Florida, and Maitland, Florida. Griffin is also the author of Blood Island, Murder Key, and Longboat Blues. Blood Island was named an award-winning finalist in the 2008 National Best Books Awards, Fiction & Literature: Mystery/Suspense category.
Series:
* Matt Royal Mystery
Series:
* Matt Royal Mystery
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews
June 27, 2012
Matt Royal is a retired lawyer living the easy life in Florida. One day, his ex-wife (and love of his life) shows up and asks Matt to help find her stepdaughter, who has disappeared.
So, I'm hooked. At first, this book is a great read. Matt is funny and intelligent. The mystery is easy to follow but important enough to keep my interest. I found myself drifting pleasantly along.
Then, bam! About 2/3 of the way in, the book changed completely, almost as if a separate author (one not nearly as good) took over and finished it off quickly and badly. Being a budding writer myself, I know that, like gymnastics, the endings are the hardest to land but this ending borders on the bizarre. It involves a rescus mission that is so implausible it's actually insulting to read. There are Spec. Ops, doomsday bombs, religious cults taking over the world, terrorism, the President cowtowing to Matt's demands......WHAT is going on?
Turns out, a whole bunch of nothing. This book was a huge waste of time. Avoid it at all costs!
So, I'm hooked. At first, this book is a great read. Matt is funny and intelligent. The mystery is easy to follow but important enough to keep my interest. I found myself drifting pleasantly along.
Then, bam! About 2/3 of the way in, the book changed completely, almost as if a separate author (one not nearly as good) took over and finished it off quickly and badly. Being a budding writer myself, I know that, like gymnastics, the endings are the hardest to land but this ending borders on the bizarre. It involves a rescus mission that is so implausible it's actually insulting to read. There are Spec. Ops, doomsday bombs, religious cults taking over the world, terrorism, the President cowtowing to Matt's demands......WHAT is going on?
Turns out, a whole bunch of nothing. This book was a huge waste of time. Avoid it at all costs!
February 11, 2011
I know this novel is fiction, but even with fiction I expect the story line to be believable. It started out alright when Matt Royal, an attorney, retires to the Florida Keys and does pro bono work. In Blood Island he is asked to look for his ex-wife’s missing stepdaughter. This results in lots of dead bodies, drugged girls forced into prostitution, and Matt Royal’s friend Jock and Logan, who come to help. I didn’t read anywhere in the book about what year this is supposed to be, it was published in 2008. If that is when the story is taking place, I wonder how these three men did what they did. They are all Vietnam veterans which puts them in their 60’s in 2008. The characters had no depth and it is hard to really care what happens to them.
April 2, 2012
Okay, first a quick summary: Matt Royal was a Florida attorney. But the stress from the job and excesssive drinking cost him his marriage, and now he's living modestly in Longboat Key, Florida. When his ex-wife Laura shows up out of the blue and tells him her eighteen year old step daughter Peggy has gone missing on spring break, Matt begins to investigate--and soon everyone he speaks to is turning up dead.
The plot takes you on a rollercoaster ride involving drugs, religious cults, prostitution, and terrorism. It's a deftly crafted, fast paced mystery with enough twists it will keep you hooked until the end. And a big plus for me, as in any book I read, was a great setting. Longboat Key made me feel like I was on vacation!
The plot takes you on a rollercoaster ride involving drugs, religious cults, prostitution, and terrorism. It's a deftly crafted, fast paced mystery with enough twists it will keep you hooked until the end. And a big plus for me, as in any book I read, was a great setting. Longboat Key made me feel like I was on vacation!
September 9, 2009
Light, frothy, but not very realistic, not very captivating. It was an OK read, good for the beach or if you have nothing better to do, but the plot was contrived, the characters shallow, and the book less than gripping.
February 11, 2014
First of this author's books I've read. it was a captivating story, but I found some of it unbelievable, like a bar tender who can find info on the internet that law enforcement agencies can't, an ex-lawyer who essentially ends up running an investigation involving several police precincts and the FBI. A bit too much. But the plot was interesting and the characters likeable.
November 29, 2013
Billed as you'll like this if you like John. D. MacDonald. The usual mystery in the Keys of Florida, not as good as other series set there. Don't know that I'd read another. Found myself skimming the last couple of chapters. Terrible dialogue. Two stars.
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December 24, 2011Very atmospheric-- great descriptions of Florida.
May 21, 2020
I just made my first visit to Anna Marie Island. Found this book in a gift shop and thought it looked interesting. Fun to read about a place I had visited.
I enjoyed reading it. Short chapters, interesting main character, several twists. Not sure it is very plausible, but, still a good read. Nice that Royal had connected friends that helped him and also diverted their eyes from questionable activities. There are other books with Matt Royal. I may try another one??
I enjoyed reading it. Short chapters, interesting main character, several twists. Not sure it is very plausible, but, still a good read. Nice that Royal had connected friends that helped him and also diverted their eyes from questionable activities. There are other books with Matt Royal. I may try another one??
June 2, 2021
It started out as a very engaging and entertaining novel, but soon became very rudimentary. The story was very linear, with cookie crumbs of mystery dropped along the way that made the story very straightforward. I sped read through the latter part of the book and I felt that I didn't miss anything. It became like a TV episode of a crime series, and ultimately forgettable!
July 12, 2021
I am hooked on this series, Matt Royal a very interesting character, part beach bum, part lawyer and special services operator. He gets into the most dire circumstance but seems to be able to rely on a network of friends all with special talents to get him out of the trouble he finds. The plots are fast moving and don't end where you think they will, but always satisfying.
May 16, 2022
Blood Island, book three in the Matt Royal series, is not written as tightly as the first two. Pacing is off at times, and some of the dialog is clunky. Matt's character, as presented in book one, takes a change here, not necessarily for the better.
Not family friendly due to profanity, violence, and adult themes/situations.
Not family friendly due to profanity, violence, and adult themes/situations.
April 1, 2024
Beginning was the best
I did enjoy this book, but I feel it got a bit confusing the deeper in I got. I feel like there were too many characters thrown into the mix,, and I could not keep the names straight. Still a good book, I just Don't like so many characters to try to keep track of
I did enjoy this book, but I feel it got a bit confusing the deeper in I got. I feel like there were too many characters thrown into the mix,, and I could not keep the names straight. Still a good book, I just Don't like so many characters to try to keep track of
May 6, 2024
Exceptionally awesome
The first two books I read were good and held my interest enough to go for a third book. Now, I am hooked! This particular book held my interest from the very beginning all The way through. The pace was exceptionally awesome! The descriptions were thorough. The characters were believable. I really wanted to jump into the story and help the heroes!
The first two books I read were good and held my interest enough to go for a third book. Now, I am hooked! This particular book held my interest from the very beginning all The way through. The pace was exceptionally awesome! The descriptions were thorough. The characters were believable. I really wanted to jump into the story and help the heroes!
October 12, 2017
Very Good; Continuing character: Matt Royal; when Royal is approached by his ex-wife, its to find her stepdaughter who has disappeared near there; soon he finds himself involved with some religious zealots and bodies pile up
October 29, 2017
A local Longboat Key/Bradenton mystery featuring Matt Royal. A lot of the action travels to Key West. As usual a lot of local spots are mentioned... beaches... restaurants... bars! It got very "Jason Bourne" at the end but it was a good read. Support your local authors!!
May 28, 2018
Sooo cheesy!!!! A retired lawyer that goes undercover to help find his ex-wife’s step daughter. He’s shooting and stabbing folks with no questions asked. He’s giving orders to FBI agents. His fried from Texas calls him “podner” (huge eye roll). I need to stop with the free books.
June 23, 2018
Whoops. Liked other book written by this author and have several others coming to read, but if as contrived as this one, may skip the series. Parts had promise but, overall, not to my liking. Skipped large sections especially after mid-point.
October 29, 2018
A solid 3.25 stars ~ My first Griffin / Matt Royal book. Quick easy read. Entertaining although somewhat farfetched, but then again, it is fiction. Plenty of Florida locales that i was familiar with. Good enough to put "Matt Royal" on my library to read list.
November 24, 2018
This was the 3rd series in the Matt Royal mysteries and it was the best. The story line was great and the author makes you believe that you are feeling what Matt is going through. The Ending was awesome and set the stage for the next book.
March 4, 2019
Read in a couple of hours -that I’ll never get back-haha. Hokey beyond imagination story featuring murder and mayhem, crazy religious mad bombers, and whores. The only saving grace was walking my brain in the sunshine of Sarasota and Key West.
January 10, 2014
This is the 3rd book in the Matt Royal series, following “Murder Key,” and I do not consider it a standalone. The backstories of each major player are already in place and are only barely touched upon in this novel. Also, Matt Royal’s emotional make-up was heavily developed in the first two novels and that knowledge is essential to this story line.
The story opens about 6 months after the conclusion of the previous novel. Matt is visiting at a friend’s animal rescue preserve when he finds a male’s mutilated body in the vulture pit. A day later, his ex-wife of 10 years, Laura, comes in from Atlanta asking Matt for his help in locating her stepdaughter. This stepdaughter, a college dropout and recreational druggie, was last seen in Matt’s town of Longboat Key, Florida, and has not been heard from in several weeks.
It takes less than a day for Matt and Logan Hamilton to get a lead on the girl, question the lead and get shot at on the way home. Two more leads, two more attempts on their lives, and a death at each scene gives Matt the idea that they are on to something far more problematic than a teenage runaway. And then Laura goes missing, also.
Before the story is finished, the clues and bodies will lead Matt, Logan and Jock Algren from Longboat Key to Sarasota to Tampa to Key West and to Blood Island. Those same leads and bodies will wind the team and the reader through seedy bars, religious cults, whorehouses (sorry – upscale massage spas) and a cartel kingpin’s home.
In fact, that most helpful cartel kingpin and his minions provide a serious contrast in this story. They are physically fit, of course, and are definitely serious players in the drug world. But, for them, it is just a business, not a psychosis or an addiction, and they are the most intelligent, the most respectful and the least caricature-like gangsters I have experienced in my reading for a while. In fact, by the end of the story, the phrase “Hold, please.” will probably never mean the same thing to you again.
Griffin tells a fine tale and, for the most part, he weaves a logical story. It is clear that he has researched and plotted the scenes carefully, eliminating illogical and unreasonable steps in the action sequences. And Griffin writes action scenes that rely on planning, adrenaline, reflex and muscle memory instead of coincidence and alpha tendencies. He allows Matt to make mistakes, but he has Matt acknowledge and process those mistakes and their consequences. He has Matt acknowledge and fight fear, the fear of being killed and the fear that he will never see Laura alive again. Just as importantly, Griffin makes sure that all is explained in the end, how everyone and everything ties together.
As much as I enjoyed the book, Griffin appears to have a harder time with weaving personal plot threads than with setting up action threads. And two instances of this caused me to downgrade my rating. First, there is absolutely no mention of Matt’s girlfriend from the first two books, Anne Dubose, a relationship that was still present, if a bit tenuous, at the end of the last novel. There were several golden opportunities for this relationship to be mentioned. But it wasn’t and its absence is glaring in the light of the content of several of Matt’s internal monologues concerning Laura.
Secondly, the author’s set-up of the “Laura” storyline fails the basic tenets of plausibility. Now the original information is fine - Laura meets with Matt but goes missing two days later, leaving ID and phone at home. Since the stepdaughter is also missing, the reader is led to believe there might be a connection. But as the novel progresses, things that Griffin writes about her disappearance just don’t add up logically, not the police response or the actions of the husband, who is a doctor.
And when she is found in a hospital several days later, dying of a virulent and terminal disease that she has told no one about, the plausibility factor hits zero. First, Griffin’s initial physical description of her specifically portrays beauty, strength and agility with no evidence of any illness, let alone a terminal one. And secondly, Griffin makes it seem as if her husband, a doctor, had no clue she was even tired, let alone terminally ill. Then when she dramatically re-surfaces from a coma, makes her peace with all and dies a day later, my suspension of disbelief just leaped right over the proverbial cliff.
Plausibly written or not, I feel that I know why Griffin needed the “Laura” story and the “Anne” non-existence. I think he wanted an intense emotional shove to couple with the violence that Matt had to resort to so that Matt could grow in the series. And I quote:
“I did what was necessary, and I know I would do it again…I didn’t think I’d ever have the same benign view of myself again. It was like losing a close friend. The Matt Royal I knew, the fun-loving beach bum lawyer, had died over the past few days, and had been replaced by a monster who was perfectly willing to shoot and stab people. I wondered if I’d ever find my old self again. I was glad Laura would never have to know this new version of the man she’d loved when she was young.”
The story opens about 6 months after the conclusion of the previous novel. Matt is visiting at a friend’s animal rescue preserve when he finds a male’s mutilated body in the vulture pit. A day later, his ex-wife of 10 years, Laura, comes in from Atlanta asking Matt for his help in locating her stepdaughter. This stepdaughter, a college dropout and recreational druggie, was last seen in Matt’s town of Longboat Key, Florida, and has not been heard from in several weeks.
It takes less than a day for Matt and Logan Hamilton to get a lead on the girl, question the lead and get shot at on the way home. Two more leads, two more attempts on their lives, and a death at each scene gives Matt the idea that they are on to something far more problematic than a teenage runaway. And then Laura goes missing, also.
Before the story is finished, the clues and bodies will lead Matt, Logan and Jock Algren from Longboat Key to Sarasota to Tampa to Key West and to Blood Island. Those same leads and bodies will wind the team and the reader through seedy bars, religious cults, whorehouses (sorry – upscale massage spas) and a cartel kingpin’s home.
In fact, that most helpful cartel kingpin and his minions provide a serious contrast in this story. They are physically fit, of course, and are definitely serious players in the drug world. But, for them, it is just a business, not a psychosis or an addiction, and they are the most intelligent, the most respectful and the least caricature-like gangsters I have experienced in my reading for a while. In fact, by the end of the story, the phrase “Hold, please.” will probably never mean the same thing to you again.
Griffin tells a fine tale and, for the most part, he weaves a logical story. It is clear that he has researched and plotted the scenes carefully, eliminating illogical and unreasonable steps in the action sequences. And Griffin writes action scenes that rely on planning, adrenaline, reflex and muscle memory instead of coincidence and alpha tendencies. He allows Matt to make mistakes, but he has Matt acknowledge and process those mistakes and their consequences. He has Matt acknowledge and fight fear, the fear of being killed and the fear that he will never see Laura alive again. Just as importantly, Griffin makes sure that all is explained in the end, how everyone and everything ties together.
As much as I enjoyed the book, Griffin appears to have a harder time with weaving personal plot threads than with setting up action threads. And two instances of this caused me to downgrade my rating. First, there is absolutely no mention of Matt’s girlfriend from the first two books, Anne Dubose, a relationship that was still present, if a bit tenuous, at the end of the last novel. There were several golden opportunities for this relationship to be mentioned. But it wasn’t and its absence is glaring in the light of the content of several of Matt’s internal monologues concerning Laura.
Secondly, the author’s set-up of the “Laura” storyline fails the basic tenets of plausibility. Now the original information is fine - Laura meets with Matt but goes missing two days later, leaving ID and phone at home. Since the stepdaughter is also missing, the reader is led to believe there might be a connection. But as the novel progresses, things that Griffin writes about her disappearance just don’t add up logically, not the police response or the actions of the husband, who is a doctor.
And when she is found in a hospital several days later, dying of a virulent and terminal disease that she has told no one about, the plausibility factor hits zero. First, Griffin’s initial physical description of her specifically portrays beauty, strength and agility with no evidence of any illness, let alone a terminal one. And secondly, Griffin makes it seem as if her husband, a doctor, had no clue she was even tired, let alone terminally ill. Then when she dramatically re-surfaces from a coma, makes her peace with all and dies a day later, my suspension of disbelief just leaped right over the proverbial cliff.
Plausibly written or not, I feel that I know why Griffin needed the “Laura” story and the “Anne” non-existence. I think he wanted an intense emotional shove to couple with the violence that Matt had to resort to so that Matt could grow in the series. And I quote:
“I did what was necessary, and I know I would do it again…I didn’t think I’d ever have the same benign view of myself again. It was like losing a close friend. The Matt Royal I knew, the fun-loving beach bum lawyer, had died over the past few days, and had been replaced by a monster who was perfectly willing to shoot and stab people. I wondered if I’d ever find my old self again. I was glad Laura would never have to know this new version of the man she’d loved when she was young.”
March 28, 2019
A fun read because it takes place on the Gulf Coast of Florida and contains the usual bad and quirky characters and their local hangouts. I will be reading his others.
March 17, 2020
Lynnie
Great series, living in Florida and some of places mentioned know of.
Love the characters and the plots of the stories. Keep you reading and wanting more.
Great series, living in Florida and some of places mentioned know of.
Love the characters and the plots of the stories. Keep you reading and wanting more.
April 26, 2020
Aptly named Blood Island
Matt Royal tries to find ex-wife Laura’s step daughter Peggy from a religious nut who is crazy and ruthless. His friends Jock and Logan join him.
Matt Royal tries to find ex-wife Laura’s step daughter Peggy from a religious nut who is crazy and ruthless. His friends Jock and Logan join him.
August 8, 2020
Thoroughly enjoyable mystery.
November 3, 2020
I loved the tour of Longboat Key and the surrounding areas. But having all the ex-Vietnam guys run the show was a little far fetched.
February 16, 2021
I like everything this guy writes. Sorry, I am not much of a reviewer today.
March 4, 2021
Continue to enjoy this series.
March 17, 2021
Great read. Enjoyed it very much.
Read
June 5, 2021Bad
Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews