A Desperate Place for Dying

-In this second novel of Garrison Gage, Gage is still struggling in his relationship with young Zoe, who is the granddaughter of his tenant, Mattie. Mattie had passed away in the first book and asked that Gage be the guardian of Zoe. Gage also has a romantic interest in Carmen, who is the sole employee and owner of the town’s newspaper. -Gage’s wife was killed by a man sent by Bruzzi, a crime boss that Gage was after. Gage had been the target, but when Gage’s wife tried to defend Gage, she herself was killed. Gage managed to kill the attacker but was too late to save his wife. Bruzzi had gone to prison because of Gage’s testimony against him and was to be in prison for at least 20 years. Bruzzi, a giant of a man, now saunters into town, apparently let out of prison early because of “good behavior” and begins to shadow Gage’s movements. His presence shakes Gage, but Gage can do nothing against Bruzzi, but be prepared for Bruzzi’s revenge. -Gage now gets a call from a woman from his past. Angela Wellman, who was his teacher in college, and just a few years older, had an affair with him. One day, he had waited at a private meeting place that they had set up, but she never showed up. He later found out that she had abruptly picked up and left the school and the town, without telling him anything, which hurt him, and he carried some of that hurt with him even through today. Angela now needed help. She’s working for Loren Sparrow, who is a science proponent and against biblical teaching of Creation, but he’s been receiving threats against his person from a group called “God’s Wrath”, who were an underground group using terrorist methods to achieve their goals of having evolution removed as an ideology. Gage agrees to meet with Angela, but the coming meeting with Angela is causing friction with Carmen. -Angela comes to the town and they meet at her motel. She’s appears to be as beautiful as he remembered her, despite the passage of time, and he struggles to resist the urge to be with her physically. They talk and she opens up as to why she had to leave when she did, and go on to discuss the issue that brought her to ask for his help. They agree to meet over breakfast the next day to review some additional facts that Gage wants to know and he returns to his own house. Later that night, the police come to his home and tell him that Angela Wellman has been found dead in her hotel room. She was horribly tortured until she was finally killed. -Gage now feels compelled, for Angela’s sake, to discover the identity of her killer. He must also think of how to protect both Carmen and Zoe from Bruzzi, as Bruzzi continues to show up and taunt Gage. -This second novel has the same excellent writing, and an involved plot that is never fully revealed until the end. Overall, it’s a very exciting and action filled story, with Gage struggling to overcome his handicap of a busted knee that forces him to walk with a cane, as he tries to discover who killed Angela, and also tries to find out what Bruzzi’s game is. There are also events that take place which will alter his life going forward, resulting in changes in the characters that we’ll now find in the next novel in the series.

This is the second book I’ve read in the series. The Garrison Gage books are great reading. I will buy the next one.

Another exciting adventure with retired PI Gage. A real page turner. Hard to put down. Loved the interesting characters. Eagerly awaiting next adventure.

A tight story with interesting characters of death, lost loves and beginnings with the rainy NW filter. The handsome but damaged PI, the newspaper woman willing to gamble for new love.

I love Garrison Gage. The fact that he is handicapped does not take away from his commitment to righting wrongs, to loving, to fighting for justice and to believing in himself. He is a common, everyday hero with all the problems that we all cope with daily. I hope the series will continue forever.

The Garrison Gage series is awesome as always. I can't wait to read #3 and hope #4 is not far behind!!!!

Just along for the ride.

Great pacing, appealing characters, believable relationships. Minor note: they need to hire a better proofreader.

The gage three book series is extremely enjoyable.i read a lot of these type books. It reminds me of john McDonald .

I'm working my way through the 3 novels in this series and enjoying each one. I'm hoping that there will be many more.