Mr. Clarinet
A Novel
-
-
5.0 • 1 Rating
-
-
- $11.99
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
“A first-class thriller that is equal parts hard-boiled Raymond Chandler mystery and voodoo-powered crime-fiction masterwork. . . . A spellbinding thriller of the highest order.” —Chicago Tribune
Max Mingus wanted to turn down the case—15 million bucks or not. Three years had passed since Haitian billionaire Allain Carver’s five-year-old son was abducted. Sure, Max had been the best detective in Miami once. But that was before he went to jail. Before his wife died. Plus, he’d heard what had happened to the others who’d gone searching for Charlie Carver before him . . .
With nothing left to lose—and a lot of money to gain—Max heads to Haiti. He knows about the voodoo and black magic. But when the trail to the missing boy leads to a local myth about a spirit child stealer named “Mr. Clarinet,” could the truth be even more shocking than the legend? Max’s job suddenly isn’t just about finding the boy, his killers, or the money—it’s about just staying alive.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Stone's adrenaline-packed debut is not for the faint of heart. Max Mingus, an ex-Miami cop and PI, wants to get his life back on track after a seven-year stint in Attica for the execution of three child molesters. Grudgingly agreeing to investigate the disappearance of Charlie Carver, the three-year-old son of a wealthy white Haitian family, Max finds himself thrown headfirst into the violent, corrupt world of Haiti in the mid-1990s. Max's search leads him from the sprawling Carver compound to Cit Soleil, the country's most notorious slum, pitting him against powerful drug baron Vincent Paul and the bloody legacy of the Carvers' rise to power. Stone veers too often into the explicitly graphic, with numerous extended torture scenes, but readers accustomed to the grittiest of pulp fiction won't be deterred. Stone, the son of British historian Norman Stone and a Haitian mother, vividly depicts a country and a man in turmoil. Despite an overabundance of plot elements, this thriller introduces a fresh voice that fans of hardboiled fiction won't want to miss.