Bermuda Grass

Rating:
Summary: A Hole in One!
Review: Alan Saxon, a well known professional golfer, and past winner of the British Open, comes to Bermuda to assist in designing a golf course at an upscale resort. He wants to spend some time with his daughter, Lynette, on holiday from Oxford, but his plans are complicated through a friend Lynette brings with her. Jessica Hadlow is the spoiled, incorrigible daughter of a rich, international businessman. While Lynette and Jessica spend much of their time with two young men they've met at the resort, Alan deals with a string of continuous and disconcerting problems that plague the construction of the golf course. When the complications include murder, and the girls are kidnapped, Alan realizes that it's no longer about a game - someone is playing for keeps.

While Alan fights to keep his partner in Bermuda and the golf course project alive, his ex-wife flies out to join in the search for their daughter. Jessica's father, a decidedly unpleasant man, also comes to Bermuda. Balancing the kidnappers, his ex-wife, Jessica's angry father, his partner, an attractive woman he met just before the kidnapping, and the hotel management, becomes quite a challenge as Alan sorts through the available clues - hoping to discover a way to bring his daughter back alive.

BERMUDA GRASS is a very well written, engrossing novel. The characterizations are effective, giving the story a compelling sense of reality. The "golf" environment is exploited just enough to capture the reader's interest, but will not turn off those who are not involved in the game. The mystery aspect is handled masterfully. Miles presents several possibilities - teasing the reader with each one - and in the end, delivering a solid and satisfying conclusion.

I highly recommend BERMUDA GRASS.

Rating:
Summary: A Hole in One!
Review: Alan Saxon, a well known professional golfer, and past winner of the British Open, comes to Bermuda to assist in designing a golf course at an upscale resort. He wants to spend some time with his daughter, Lynette, on holiday from Oxford, but his plans are complicated through a friend Lynette brings with her. Jessica Hadlow is the spoiled, incorrigible daughter of a rich, international businessman. While Lynette and Jessica spend much of their time with two young men they've met at the resort, Alan deals with a string of continuous and disconcerting problems that plague the construction of the golf course. When the complications include murder, and the girls are kidnapped, Alan realizes that it's no longer about a game - someone is playing for keeps.

While Alan fights to keep his partner in Bermuda and the golf course project alive, his ex-wife flies out to join in the search for their daughter. Jessica's father, a decidedly unpleasant man, also comes to Bermuda. Balancing the kidnappers, his ex-wife, Jessica's angry father, his partner, an attractive woman he met just before the kidnapping, and the hotel management, becomes quite a challenge as Alan sorts through the available clues - hoping to discover a way to bring his daughter back alive.

BERMUDA GRASS is a very well written, engrossing novel. The characterizations are effective, giving the story a compelling sense of reality. The "golf" environment is exploited just enough to capture the reader's interest, but will not turn off those who are not involved in the game. The mystery aspect is handled masterfully. Miles presents several possibilities - teasing the reader with each one - and in the end, delivering a solid and satisfying conclusion.

I highly recommend BERMUDA GRASS.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Mystery, perfect blend of golf and suspense
Review: I read this book originally only because I have recently taken up golf. However, upon starting the book I found myself drawn into it. The plot of the book centers around Alan Saxon, and the trouble he faces while designing a golf course in Bermuda. He has a long vivist in the country, and plans to take his daughter with him. his ex-wife then dumps one of his daughter's frinds on him as well. This book will keep you turning pages. I reccomend it to any reader.

Rating:
Summary: Well written but unlikable protagonist
Review: When golf pro Alan Saxon is hired to help build a golf course for a hotel in Bermuda, he decides to turn it into a vacation--taking his college-aged daughter with him. When he arrives in Bermuda, however, he finds that the golf course has run into problems. At first he dismisses the idea of sabotage--but when a murder victim ends up hanging in the middle of the course, he isn't so sure. When someone raises the stakes and attacks Saxon's family, he decides to spring into action and get to the bottom of the case--no matter who gets hurt.

Author Keith Miles sets up an intriguing mystery with beautiful Bermuda as the backdrop. The hotel where Saxon is staying is the result of a bidding war that left a lot of angry parties behind--and it is possible that someone is trying to get their revenge. Of course, the murder victim wasn't exactly Mr. Personality, so possibly it's nothing more than coincidence that this is happening on the golf course.

I found Saxon himself to be unsympathetic. While his anger at his ex-wife was occasionally amusing and made him more human, it was also unlikable. As was his treatment of his new girlfriend, Nancy (would he have been as cool if she had been younger than him rather than older?). Obviously not especially liking the protagonist makes it harder to get into the mystery.

Miles is a talented writer and the mystery definitely got me hooked so I am happy to recommend this novel--but I hope that Saxon gets a bit of a personality transplant before we see him again.