A False Dawn

by: Tom Lowe

Published by: Minotaur Books

Reviewed by C. L. Rossman

Former Detective Sean O’Brien, a 13-year veteran on the Miami Police Force, has given up his career and all hope after his wife dies and his best friend is shot in a robbery. He brings Max, his wife’s mini-dachshund, with him and retreats to a dilapidated house near the Florida Everglades to spend the rest of his life fishing, and hopefully away from the crime and troubles of a city environment.

But trouble seeks him out when he finds a young girl beaten, raped and dying on his property. She begs him to find her killer, and he promises, as she dies in his arms.

In getting involved, he stumbles into the hornet’s nest of a vicious slave trade in young women, abuse of migratory workers, and illegal organ harvesting–all which seem to be connected with a wealthy political family in south Florida. There’s also a police detective named Slater who not only seems to be cozying up to this family, but also seems determined to deflect the police investigation away from the real murderer onto O’Brien himself, even to the point of planting evidence. A mysterious Seminole Indian named Joe Billie wanders in and out of O’Brien’s life, aiding him at crucial moments.

Lowe is an award-winning documentary writer-director whose films are shown nationwide on PBS. This is his first novel—but that’s hard to believe because it is so well-written. The prose is as lean and focused as any of the best writers in this field, and he is writing about what he calls a very real problem–the abduction and selling into slavery of young girls who come into this country perhaps as migratory workers, or perhaps illegally, They are exploited ruthlessly, drugged and “sold” to multiple owners, sold again and again until they are used up, then thrown away. Perhaps this novel will wake some people up.

As fiction, it is a very good, very well-written first novel that is also filled with suspense.

Armchair Interviews says: Raves! Highly recommend this as an exciting mystery/thriller/crime fiction from a new writer fans can add to their reading lists.

Author’s Web site: http://www.TomLoweBooks.com