Dark Fragments - Rob Sinclair - 4 stars

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. This is the first time I have read anything by this author.

Synopsis
Murder. Money. Revenge.

Outwardly, Ben Stephens appears to be a normal, hard-working family man. In reality, his life has been in turmoil since the murder of his wife, Alice, seven years ago. The killer was never caught.

Now re-married - to the woman he was having an affair with while still married to Alice - Ben’s life is once again spiralling out of control, and he’s become heavily indebted to an unscrupulous criminal who is baying for Ben’s blood.

When Ben’s estranged twin sister, a police detective, unexpectedly returns to his life, asking too many questions for comfort, it becomes clear that without action, Ben’s life will soon reach a crisis point from which there will be no return.

In order to avoid falling further into the mire, Ben must examine the past if he is to survive the present - but just how much pressure can one man take before he breaks?

I was unsure about the plot of the story when I started to read it. I do have to say though that this is a very fast paced story. It moves very quickly and will keep the attention of most readers. I am just not sure if it was the story for me. I love thrillers, but I did like the 'mobbish' elements to this story. The mystery in the story however, was good, I enjoyed that part of it a lot. Although it was somewhat predictable I did enjoy it for the most part. I found the imagery to be very good in this story as well. It sets the scene up nicely for readers when you can envision things that are happening in the story, like you are living it.

I have to say I did not like the main character of this story at all. I am sure though that it was the authors intention for Ben to be viewed this way. At one point you want to feel bad for him, but then he does something that made me want to kill him myself. He seemed to not be very good control of himself most of the time and seemed to think that he was right in his thinking no matter what. I did enjoyed the female characters a bit more though. They were pretty strong, well developed characters.

This could have easily been a 5 star book had I liked the character, but really he just annoyed me if anything. It also could have easily been a 3 star rating, since I did not like the mob feel to the book, but because of the other elements and the fast paced action it keep my attention well so gets the 4 star rating. I can recommend this book to anyone who loves thrillers/mystery. It will keep readers engaged.