Electric Beach

Mike Connolly Mystery #3

by Joe Hilley

Electric Beach - 3rd in the Mike Connolly mystery series - After years in a drunken stupor, Mike Connolly is finally sober. His legal practice is back to being profitable and his life has reached a comfortable rhythm. Then a late-night phone call turns his world upside down. Camille Braxton is missing and Perry, her husband, is the target of a police investigation. When Camille's body turns up a few days later on a sandbar near Horn Island, Perry lands in jail. Defending him takes Mike to a tanning salon that fronts for a prostitution ring and back to people he's tried hard to forget.Life would be much simpler if Mike could ignore the things he sees, but when he learns the women from the salon were trafficked into the sex trade and are living in a warehouse, he feels compelled to do more than simply defend his client. Then he discovers the cache of bodies in the scrapyard and Mike knows his life will never be the same again. But first he has to avoid the men who intend to kill him to hide their secrets.

368 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 7, 2006

About the author

I was born in Alabama and grew up on the Gulf Coast. After years of practicing law, I quit to write about people and topics that interest me.

Reviews

[T.E. George · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though detective and legal thrillers are not my usual fare, I gave this one a chance becase I live near enough to Mobile to be interested in the setting.

Mike Connolly, as the protagonist, is an intersting subject for a compelling story. Characters with their own personal demons always make the most interesting heroes. Mike is a recovering acoholic who has lost his family and a fair amount of his own self-respect over the years. Now he is reformed but still fighting the shadows of his former life.

The subject of this story is tough on the senses. Sexual slavery and prostitution aren't the normal topics for Christian fiction. The fact that these things exist in deep in the heart of the Bible belt make this story even more compelling. Kudos to the the author for tackling them.

With all that said, the novel ends up being little more that Christian pulp fiction. And not great pulp fiction (i.e. Ted Dekker). The story is overloaded with far too many physical descriptions (street names, shop names,etc...)As a native of the area in the novel, I found these interesting but I am quite sure no one from anywhere else would care one bit about this glut of information.

There is great promise in the story's hero. But the great story did not become a really good novel.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. It was an easy read and yet held your attention all the way.

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's as good as any generic whodunit.

[Jackaline Rutter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This picked up at the end. There was a lot of detail that didn’t necessarily add value to the story. I liked the last third of the book the most.

[Lynn Weigand · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book and didn't really know it was considered a "christian" novel. I read alot of mysteries and thrillers and the content of this book was very tame in comparison. I found the book to move in a comfortable pace but as others have mentioned, there was too much detail about his driving, the lefts, the rights, taking his foot off the pedal, putting his foot on the pedal. Ok, we get it. He's driving. Also, the ending left me wondering about alot of things; I didn't feel it was very clear as to the trust, etc. and what about the girls? Lots of unanswered questions about everything, I guess. I'm not sure - maybe some of this is carried over into Mike Connelly Mystery #4 but it would have been nice to have a bit more resolution. I won't go out of my way to find #4 but will read it if it happens to come my way. It was a pleasant read ...

[Darinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third book in the Mike Connolly mystery series. Entertaining characters. Great setting.

[Hayli Long · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this book because it takes place in Mobile, AL which is my hometown. However, the book was pretty slow for me. The story didn’t pick up until the last 100 pages. There were too many paragraphs describing the route that Mike Connelly would take—- road name after road name after road name. It became repetitive. I skipped over many paragraphs because of this. I hate giving one stars, but this one is a one star for me.

[Lynn Mooney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and spellbinding

Great story and happenings. Very unexpected beginning, Middle and ending. I think it is time for mike and Barbara to reunite.