The Abbey by Chris Culver

          The Abbey was apparently a debut effort on the part of Chris Culver.  It wasn’t bad.  I think he could have left the Abbey Bar for which the book is named, and the vampire wannabes out of the story altogether without any problem.

          The story was fast paced and the details held together well. However, this is not the polished, tightly woven work of a veteran writer.  While no loose ends were left hanging, there were times when it felt like Culver was taking three lefts instead of a single right turn to get where he wanted to go.

          I did like Ash, the main character, and hope to see him in future stories.  He’s a regular guy with lofty goals, a strong sense of loyalty and family, enough brains to be a very good detective and the personality and temper to be a lousy human being if he’s not careful. He’s perfect enough to anchor a series of stories, and flawed enough to be relatable. 

          I recommend this book to fans of cop novels.  Just remember not to set the bar too high.  The Abbey is a very good first effort, and I believe Culver has some real potential.  With practice and stronger editing, we should be seeing quite a lot of him in the future.