Bodycheck

By Steven Owad

Somebody wants Behn McAvoy dead. Behn is sure of this because he has just had to drown an assailant in his favourite fishing hole. But who would want to kill an aging hockey player from a minor-league... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1894917227
• ISBN13: 9781894917223
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: Napoleon and Co
• Length: 290 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.5" x 0.6" x 5.1"

Customer Reviews

First-Time Author Hits a SlapShot!

Body Check Steve Owad Rendezvous Crime ISBN 1-894917-22-7 Behn McAvoy has a problem. It isn't that he's playing minor league hockey in Alberta. It isn't even that his teammates' want him gone. His real problem is that he killed a man. But the man was trying to kill him. Behn starts on a convoluted journey to find out why someone wants him dead. The cast of possibilities is long, almost too long, but author Steve Owad pulls it off. Owad's first novel shows off his strong writing skills as well as a few beginner mistakes. This book triggers one of my biggest pet peeves. I hate short chapters. One is five paragraphs long! I think that Owad's background as a successful playwright is showing up in his novel. He tends to divide his chapters into scenes rather than several scenes in one chapter. There are also a few minor cases of head hopping, but nothing that yanks you out of the story. But don't let these minor technicalities stop you from checking out this major-league mystery. Owad obviously knows his hockey and his hockey professionals. And I loved how he twisted the minor characters into pretzels and still made them believable. Particularly well done is his vitamin-popping amateur hit man who is just this side of a stereotype farce. Owad isn't into giving things away and obviously enjoys herring, red, as much as the next mystery writer. I wasn't positive who was the mastermind until the very end. Your cast of characters includes an ex-wife of three drunken weeks, gamblers, teammates, and the team owner who doesn't want a murderer on her team. Her motive is that she wants to sell the hockey teams she owns. Having a man with Behn's reputation has become a liability. But what about Behn's teammate who threatened to kill him after a game? And who sent the man Behn killed in the opening pages? Twists like this will keep you reading just to see what happens next. And don't rule out anyone until the very end! This is an engaging first book by an author who needs to be watched. The humor creeps up on you making you laugh at the oddest of moments. The descriptive writing is tight and pulls you into the scene. You know where you are at all times. This is an emotionally satisfying book as well with the neatly woven romance between Behn and the strong female character. But the real question is when will Owad write again? Now there's a mystery I'd like solved soon. If you think Mike Hammer on Ice sounds good, then this is the book for you. Try it out. Let me know what you think. I don't think you have to be a hockey buff (I am) to enjoy this book. Hockey is the setting, not the story.