A thriller novella and the beginning of Leo Keane thriller series.

54555441

Publishing year: 2020

Format: ebook

Wordcount from GoodReads: 138

Omar and his wife Nafisa are refugees from Myanmar. They endured a terrible boat ride to Thailand and had money for only one set of immigration papers. They decided to buy papers for Omar. He works hard to get the money for Nafisa’s papers. She must hide in their small apartment all the time. They must stay alert for the local police raids so that Nafisa will hide when the police come. Omar works at a local hotel.

Leo and his girlfriend Mya have been on a wonderful holiday and the island of Koh Tao in Thailand is their final destination. Leo is trying to find the perfect time and place to propose to Mya. When the time finally arrives, Mya just smiles, says: ”Come to me in five minutes and you will have the answer”, and leaves. But when Leo comes to their cabin, Mya has vanished without a trace.

Inspector Kaya hates the sleepy island. But a disappeared tourist might just be the ticket for him to get noticed and get a promotion off the island. Unfortunately, the only thing he knows what to do is to harass the Myanmar refugees.

The start of the novella is a little slow when we get to know Omar, Nafisa, Leo, and Mya. But when the action starts, it continues at a good pace. Leo clearly loves Mya and will do anything to get her back. He’s a former journalist so he has some idea what to do. Meanwhile, we get a hint that Mya is more than just a mysterious girlfriend. Omar just wants to do his job well so that he can buy Nafisa her papers and they can enjoy their life together.

This was a good introduction to a thriller series. The descriptions were vivid and the characters interesting. However, the mystery of Mya’s disapearance isn’t solved. It seems to be Leo’s driving force in the series.