Mortal Fall

Author: Christine Carbo

Glacier National Park colludes with Christine Carbo to present a background character that guides the novel’s characters to solve the murders of a famed biologist and a pedophile ex-teacher and mapmaker in Mortal Fall.  The two murders occur days apart, and very close together beneath a treacherous road area in GNP, the Loop.  Paul “Wolfie” Sedgewick’s fatal fall from the cliffs near Going-To-The-Sun Road is unbelievable to Glacier National Park police officer Monty Harris – for Sedgewick was one of them – the professionals and locals who worked at and knew the park inside out. Paul Sedgewick was a wildlife biologist currently leading a federal study on the elusive wolverine population in the park and how the wolverines were affected by global warming as the National park’s glaciers disappeared and melted.  His wife – and Monty – both believe he could not possible have fallen, that he was pushed.

The other body is one that Monty Harris doesn’t know, but soon discovers the name of:  Mark Phillips.  Phillips has a strange connection to Monty.  Phillips taught at Glacier Academy, a school for troubled teenage boys years ago when Monty’s brother Adam Harris attended the school.  And as Monty searches for clues it becomes apparent that Mark Phillips sexually abused many of the boys he was supposed to be teaching, including teenage Adam.  Adam and Monty come from a home with an alcoholic, abusive father and a deeply mentally ill mother and are estranged brothers, as Monty took a lot of abuse from Adam when he was a kid.  And one incident sticks in Monty’s mind: one Halloween night when Adam and his friends abandoned Monty and his twelve year old buddy Nathan and tragedy occurred.

Strike up Nevada Barr, throw in prose that snakes up and around the beautiful and treacherous environment of Glacier National Park, and hustle in two murders and Monty Harris has his hands full in the midst of a personal crisis with his wife Lara.  Monty has to travel back to his past and the disappearance of Nathan that Halloween night as he stumbles across clues that do not bode well for his brother Adam.

Beautifully written and crafted, Mortal Fall intrigues and ponders, leads and confuses as Christine Carbo erupts as a new crime novelist of great skill who can hold her own with a twisted plot and engaging characters.

Ratings are based on a 5-star scale 

Overall: 4

Review by Broad “A” 

We received a product to facilitate our review. All opinions are our own

DETAILS

• You can pick up this book on Amazon.com here: Mortal Fall: A Novel of Suspense or at a bookseller near you.