Aries Rising

Rating:
Summary: An Exciting Novel Set in the Caribbean
Review: ARIES RISING by Arthur Herzog is a book to be savored. It starts out easy but things soon pick up big time.Phlip Castle, newly divorced and bored with life, vacations on the Carribean island of St. Jean. He only plans to stay awhile, but as he is unpacking, a small plane crashes nearby. He rushes out to see what happened and finds the pilot bears an uncanny resemblance to him. A chance encounter on the beach with a beautiful blonde psychic and friend of the dead pilot, changes his life forever.

The blonde, named Marie-Celeste, introduces him to four fascinating tycoons, rich beyond belief, all cardinal signs, who live in elegance and style. Unbeknownst to Castle, they are all criminals. In a fabulous James Bond-like adventure, Castle pits himself against these astrology-driven, clever killers, who want to take over the government of the Caribbean island of El Parador. Castle has only one advantage--his sign--that makes the criminals trust him.

The book is hard to put down as it moves from one disaster to another. For example in a scene between the criminal's yacht, the Zodiac, and the warship of the president of El Parador things begin to heat up: "Activity on the yacht had centered on the Cigarette, long, sleek, equipped with two powerful twin-screw engines, capable of sixty knots or better, somebody said. The Zodiac, meantime,was headed in a wide notherly arc that carried her toward the warship's starboard beam, maintaining the same distance. Again the three-inch cannon fired; this time spray reached the ship. The great white yacht began to zigzag across the sea. What must the skipper think when he saw that the yacht refused to run?"

The excitement is parlayed by Herzog's intimate knowledge of the Caribbean--its food, culture, and way of life. Why hasn't this book been made into a movie?