Review: A Game of Greed and Deception by John Mathews

Synopsis: When the charming Tammy Worthington takes her wealthy husband and step-daughter on a holiday weekend in the Colorado mountains, she has purely sinister intentions. Her husband is killed in a tragic auto accident, just as she had planned...and now her pending fortune awaits her. Or does it? With no body to be found in the wreckage, he just becomes a missing person, and Tammy is seemingly trapped inside the cabin with someone stalking her from outside. Could he possibly have known what she was up to and planned his revenge? What ensues is the macabre mystery drama of a sick and psychotic woman driven by her soulless greed who quickly turns from the hunter to the prey. The scenes include deadly traps and medieval torture devices, hidden doors and rooms, and an underground labyrinth of torture chambers that are not for the feint of heart. This is a scary thriller so devious that it is set up to fool the State police investigation. Can you guess what is really happening in this great murder mystery? This deadly game of murder and deception will keep you guessing until the final scene delivers a real shock that you won't soon forget.

 Review: I liked a lot of this story. It could have been better. The promise of a great story was there but it reminded me of a Lifetime movie. Good enough for second tier cable station but not good enough for major movie backing. The book was in that league. There are plot points that happen and I am wondering what did I miss that supports what just happened in the story line. For example, a character escapes being tied up by pulling razor blades from their back pocket and cutting the ropes. I wondered to myself, where did those razor blades come from?

 After I finished the story, I went back and looked, searching for razor and I found it. The character is rummaging through a medicine cabinet. Why? Snooping? They come across band-aids, safety pins and razor blades. The character sticks them in their back pocket. Problem solved, because you never know, right? It's this kind of plot hole back filling that kills this story and makes what could have been a great mystery into a mediocre story. There are twists and turns to the story but too much is revealed to keep me guessing.

 I have to recommend this to fans of the genre only.