Monday, November 14, 2011

Free Range Institution (Mad Mick Murphy) by Michael Haskins


Key West's hardboiled reporter is back in action... and I do mean action!
In this very action-packed tale we follow Mad Mick Murphy's investigation into the death of a friend that falls from a building. He becomes embroiled into the fight against Columbian drug traffickers.
Obviously well-researched, full of details about the location this reads like a visit to another, very interesting world with Murphy as a tour guide. At times Murphy seems to be a bit of a by-stander as Feds take action against the bad guys, but hey, he's a reporter, right? Murhphy makes up for it in the thrilling last chapters.
There's an interesting supernatural element in the character of Padre Thomas, who might or not be an angel. It reminded me of early John Connolly before he went a bit overboard with the supernatural elements and of James Lee Burke's use of the supernatural.
All in all a good, fast-paced read.

3 comments:

essay writers said...

Great work. Thanks a lot.

jessica said...

Michael Haskins writes colorful political mystery whodunnits depicting the curious culture of Key West in ways outsiders rarely get to see. Great dialogue, intrigue & characters - I also especially like Father Padre and Tita, his elusive girlfriend. Enjoyable & entertaining.

Mike Dennis said...

As a fellow Key Wester, I can say with certainty that Michael Haskins is one of the shining lights of the Key West literary community. FREE RANGE INSTITUTION, a fast-moving mystery in his successful Mick Murphy series, is one reason why.

I'm honored to be in the Casa Marina Group with him, a local authors critique group.