Review: Brett Enters the Square Circle

Brett Enters the Square Circle
by David D. D'Aguanno

Plot Summary:
Where in the world is Stacey Ashton? 

Stacey herself told her employer that she was leaving for Philadelphia on personal business. 

But Melanie Foster suspects that the girl has run off to Florida with her husband instead. 

Enter private detective and self-proclaimed unscrupulous bastard Brett Cornell who attempts to discover Stacey's true whereabouts, only to learn that she may actually have been murdered -- and that the murder took place a lot closer to home. 

In this fifth Brett Cornell detective novel set in the late 1980s, Brett finds himself pitted against a group of particularly deceitful and unpredictable characters. 

And at the same time, he is about to imperil those stunning Adonis-like features of his when he enters the boxing arena in a major bout that may very well turn out to be a life-changing experience for him.

Expectations: This was promised to be a funny mystery, so I was ready for a light, entertaining read.

Review:

This was a surprisingly fun read!  The mystery, the story, the other characters, all pale when compared to Brett Cornell's overwhelming personality.  He has a gigantic ego, crass attitude,  and a perverse outlook on life.  He swaggers through the whole book (well, until near the end) and I kind of wanted to see him 'knocked down to size' but even with his arrogance, he's not the  most distasteful character in the book, and there are a few characters I hope he'll get the better of.  Brett's view on his fellow humans, while seemingly perverse, are more often than not, accurate, so even if Brett sometimes doesn't seem like the sharpest tool in the shed, there are surprising flashes of his intellect and intuition.  


The mystery is resolved rather quickly and efficiently, and the murderer telegraphs his guilt pretty clearly in one scene, but the mystery is secondary to the comedic tribulations of the main character as he tries his best to get laid, get respect, and get money with as little effort as possible.  However, near the end of the novel, there are several poignant moments where our hero starts to realize the trajectory of his volatile life's path and the question of whether or not he will be redeemed will no doubt be fodder for subsequent books in the series, but the fact that Brett does have a heart somewhere makes the whole book that much more of an intriguing character study.  So I would recommend this story and probably the whole series for the outrageous and humorous adventures of Brett Cornell.


review copy kindly provided by the author


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