Reviewed by John A G Smith for Readers' Favorite

Brad Massingham’s Jack Kennedy, a Boston homicide detective, lost his wife to cancer and set out for a complete break, exchanging the big city for a sleepy backwater in Florida where the crime rate peaks if somebody drops a cigarette butt. And he’s contently jogging along until a local fisherman finds a body in the silt at the bottom of a swamp. The body, in a US army body bag inside a stainless steel coffin, appears to have been embalmed for interment. This is puzzling enough, but when a second similar body turns up, things begin to look decidedly 'fishy.' As Jack attempts to find answers to the riddles, he only seems to get more riddles. Smart, beautiful but ‘driven’ FBI Agent Kate Burke is sent on her first field assignment to oversee his investigations. Together they uncover a top secret project called Talons that would make the Nazis look like choirboys, corruption and cover-ups that lead to the highest level of government … and powerful people who want to keep the whole thing under wraps. Soon it’s not just the investigation that’s in jeopardy, but their careers and even their lives.

Of course, Jack Kennedy is tall, square jawed and muscular. Of course, Kate Burke is beautiful, intelligent and witty … but they are necessary ingredients in this genre. What Brad Massingham manages to do in Talons is make them sympathetic and credible as well. The story, too, is believable and rattles along from the stifling tropical humidity of Florida – so well described that the reader will almost break into a sweat – to the well documented streets of Boston and on to the offices of power in Washington. All the ancillary characters are well-crafted and their interactions are realistic. It’s the plot, however, that really wins for this novel, with so many clues thrown about and no logical answers that the reader feels about as baffled as poor old Jack – and is just as jubilant as, alongside our hero, they piece the puzzle together.

Finally, there is the chemistry between Jack and Kate. As soon as they are introduced, it is obvious where the relationship ought to lead but they are both professionals … neither will allow anything that would endanger the working relationship, but it’s bubbling under all through. Do they? Don’t they? Sorry, Brad Massingham would not thank me for throwing in any spoilers, but I shall certainly be keeping an eye out for Jack Kennedy (and Kate Burke) in his (or their) next adventure.