Book Review: The Whole Lie by Steve Ulfelder

·        Hardcover: 320 pages

·        Publisher: Minotaur Books (May 8, 2012)

·        Language: English

·        ISBN-10: 0312604548

·        ISBN-13: 978-0312604547

The Whole Lie, by Steve Ulfelder drops on May 8, 2012. I was lucky enough to score a review copy and I can whole-heartedly say that it is even better than Purgatory Chasm. The Whole Lie is the second book in the Conway Sax series and life is about to get really complicated.

Conway has it going on. His new garage has more work than hours in the day and his relationship with Charlene is finally on clean dry track. 

Then in walks Savannah Kane. Hey, I hate her. All women instinctively do. You want to grab Sax by the collar and tell him to get his tail home to Charlene. 

The best description I can think of for Savvy Kane comes from an old country song:

She walks into Smokey's one hip at a time,
Like a broken field runner slippin' through the line . . .

Yeah, I know.

And Savvy has another bombshell for Sax, a six-year-old souvenir of an affair with a man who wants to be the next Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts. The story is heading into deep water fast when Savvy turns up brutally murdered. Sax, torn between the life he has now, and the loyalty he feels for the lover from his past is dragged into a pit of emotional and political intrigue. Without giving up any spoilers, mayhem ensues.

The strength of The Whole Lie is in the larger than life characters of Conway Sax, Savvy Kane, and baby-daddy Bert Saginaw. In signature Ulfelder style, everyone is a suspect, everyone has an angle, and everyone is lying. Throw in some campaign secrets, blackmail photos, and the fact that every time Sax thinks he has the killer, that person ends up dead, and you have a thrilling tale that moves at NASCAR speed. I had a guess who was hidden under the red dots on the photos, but . . . I. Was. Wrong.

Ulfelder’s racing experience comes through as Sax looks at things through the eyes of a driver and a mechanic. The motorcycle has been tampered with. It’s subtle, but a driver knows that it doesn’t feel right. The back seat of the car clicks when he sits on it. A mechanic knows it's not properly mounted. The clues are there for the reader, if you are willing to look through Conway’s eyes.

Readers are also rewarded with a nice slice of history on Conway Sax. His fall from budding NASCAR stardom into substance abuse and his subsequent recovery are told as memories as he thinks of Savvy. That recovery is also sorely tested by his grief and guilt over Savvy’s death.

Even with the wanton act of antique carnage in the final fight scene, I give The Whole Lie a full five snaps up and a bag of chips for the lines: “I grokked him, sister . . . I’m fluent in Quaalude.” – and – “You’re not convinced. . . Where was I? . . . Befouler. Viper. . . Ah, yes.”

Check out The Whole Lie. It builds on Purgatory Chasm, but is a stand-alone story. Available May 8, 2012. You won’t be sorry.