Author: Luther Knight
ISBN: 13: 978-1-58982-582-6: 10:1-58982-582-0
Publisher: American Book Publishing

It is the summer of 2004, Chief Master Sergeant Lucas Mackely sits in a United States Veterans Retirement Facility in Gulfport, Mississippi. He is seemingly unaware of his surroundings, as he daydreams about painful events he experienced many years ago, when he was an enlisted airman in the US Air Force stationed in Myrtle Beach. These episodes were so distressing that for fifty years he kept them harnessed in his memory, not sharing it with anyone, that is, until he met Nurse Marty Judson, whom he calls Em. She reminds him of his true lost love, a teenager named Emily, and due to this likeness, Nurse Judson is successful in prompting Lucas to recount these agonizing events. Very quickly, Luther Knight, author of Myrtle Beach, pulls us into a compelling and exciting read, involving love, human destiny, deceit, betrayal, untrustworthy friends, monstrous murders, and the injustices of the world.

The unfolding drama focuses on three airmen, Lucas Mackely and his two buddies Charles Kesterman, and JJ Phelps, who first converge at the Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. Mackley is from Arkansas, and pursuant to a challenge made by one of his friends, enlisted in the Air Force at the age of nineteen. Kesterman grew up in Mississippi, the elder of two sons of a divorced mother. When Kesterman was seven or eight his mother remarried a man who would abuse her. The combination of losing his father and the cruelty of his stepfather probably was the cause of his constantly getting into trouble. It also resulted in his cockiness, particularly when it came to women. Phelps had grown up in Missouri, and after graduating high school, he had plans to become an electrical engineer. Unfortunately, his plans and life were dramatically changed when he almost killed a professor who insulted his intelligence. As a result, he was forced to abandon his plans and decided to join the Air Force.

While the threesome were stationed at Keesler, chasing women and drinking, the body of a forty-year old woman was discovered in the waters off the Gulf of Mexico. The first presumption was that she had committed suicide. It was also here where the three friends came in contact with a bestial Staff Sergeant Wilbert Burnham Webber, who delighted in making life miserable for anyone that crossed his path. On an early Sunday morning in March 1951, Webber's bloodied body was discovered. He was the recipient of a savage beating leaving very little clues as to who was the culprit. And the murder occurred on the night just before the three airmen were shipped out to Shaw AFB in South Carolina. It was at Shaw where they would help organize a team capable of operating along the South Carolina coast monitoring air traffic while training for eventual overseas duty.

What is noteworthy is that wherever the three airmen were assigned, death always seemed to follow. In all, there were five murders and one fatal accident, and somehow the trio were always at a reasonable distance from the scenes of these deaths. Moreover, they also appeared to have known some of the murder victims. Among the tragedies was the accident of a tobacco farmer killed in a crash caused by one of the airmen from their base. Shortly thereafter, the deceased's wife took to drinking, and one day was found viciously murdered. Another was the case of two teenagers brutally beaten and killed in a nearby town not far from where the buddies were stationed. All of the the murder crimes seemed to follow the same vicious pattern pointing to the workings of a deranged person. However, the civilian and military law authorities were at a loss as to who committed these sadistic killings, although they did have their suspicions that perhaps a connection existed involving one of more of the trio and these perplexing murders. Proving it was another matter, as the evidence was flimsy and circumstantial. As for Chief Master Sergeant Lucas Mackely, when he did figure out what he became involved in, he realized the far reaching ramifications it would have on his future life.

Knight does a masterful job in keeping the intensity of the plot throughout this harrowing yarn. The suspense of the characters' interactions with one another, the menace of Kesterman's unpredictable behavior, the secrets lurking in the past, and the obscure strings that vaguely connect the murders together all contribute to make this debut novel a great read. There is certainly never a dull moment, serving just the right balance of insidious malevolence and innocence.

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