Ebook Now Out! Exclusive From Book Readers Heaven, Review Of The New Jack Ludefance Series Book, UNCANNY ALLIANCE by Behcet Kaya

 “The uncanny alliance of the sacred and the profane, the sublime and the ridiculous,

the comic and the tragic,  is a hallmark of the great

 genius of our age.” 

Gary Saul Morson

This morning as I once again pondered these profound words which sets the stage for Behcet (Ben) Kaya's newest Jack Ludefance Novel, hopefully to be published in late March, suddenly I wanted to know more about the man who spoke these words... It led me to a book, which is now on my Kindle. I'll be reading it next: MINDS WIDE SHUT. I Call That a God Incident... God speaking through His followers to share of His Love and Concern for ALL of His Children... More on that later...

Words Failed Me, at first, to describe the new novel by Behcet (Ben) Kaya. Then it came to me. In my mind, It Was Perfect. Perfection when a writer creates not only a novel of importance in today's world, but, perfect because the writer took the time to ensure that every single issue within the book was covered , checked and rechecked so that the reader would be completely satisfied when finishing this fantastic novel! 

Even reading a manuscript online and sitting for 8 hours straight could not stop me from wanting to continue to read and finish the book. Only logic told me to eat and rest for the night... I was at my desktop the next morning at 6, soon reading faster and faster, pages flying past as I was lost in the story that Ben had created. Even now as I write, I thrill at the wonder of his words, his characters, his manner of characters interacting with each other... Was that It? Was I reading a book by an author who was so attuned, so empathic, that even his characters in their daily lives knew how and what to say to each other? Routinely? Because, of course, such a writer could indeed write Perfection... I was honored to help in that process, reading and catching those final few errors that only an avid reader of words can find...

And, for having read Ben's first novel and seeing his latest which surely places him into the group of major authors of our great literary nation... Please, take the time to, in the right-hand column of my blog, type in the author's name... You will get a list of his books. In fact, I recommend that you begin with the first in series for Jack Ludefance and binge on the series until the end of March when this books comes out! Let me tell you about it! I'm so excited to do so! And already thinking movies and who should play Ludefance!

Kingsley University, small, elite, and privately owned, caters to the wealthiest of families who are only too happy to send their offspring to such a prestigious institution. Carrying accreditation from the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, the entrance guidelines are strict. It’s virtually impossible to be admitted without a minimum 4.0 grade average and a recommendation letter from an alum.
The campus is located on the outskirts of the small town of Golden Shores located on the coast of southeastern Alabama not far from the Florida state line. Situated on 195 immaculately manicured acres, it has new and sophisticated buildings, including dorms, classrooms, dining halls, and faculty housing, all unknown to the general public and virtually free from media attention. The governing body has made a conscious effort to keep the university out of the mainstream and has ensured that it’s not easily found in any Internet search engines.
The university offers programs for bachelor, master, and PhD degrees in a variety of topics demanded by the wealthy parents, including business leadership, investment, music, the arts, and social issues such as human ecology and environmental science. The professors hired to teach are the best of the best, with heavy emphasis on their expertise in topics of governing, economy, ecology, and investments. 

Rebecca Forester is headed to her 9 AM appointment with her professor, Pachua Zambear. She fusses with her hair, then knocks on his office door. She is surprised when there’s no answer. She knocks again, but there still is no answer. As she moves to peer in through the side window, she accidentally pushes on the door. It swings open. As Rebecca steps into the office, she utters a piercing scream which shatters the quiet.
She stares across the office to the large couch and the body of her professor. He is lying on his side facing her, his pants pulled down to his ankles, his penis fully erect. His arms are behind his back. She can see that his dead eyes are open through the clear plastic bag covering his head.
Professor Zambear was a tall slender man, with a bald head and large hands. The saying goes that a man with large hands possesses a large penis and the professor lived up to that saying. He was a handsome man, always wearing some piece of unusual jewelry such as leather strands with feathers, or Amazon artifacts, around his neck.
The long sofa in his office was comfortable enough to sleep on and was where he had sex with his willing students. On the walls were photographs of Death Valley, California, along with unusual pictures from the Amazon River. One photograph pictured an Amazon village filled with naked villagers, the professor standing among them. There was another photograph of village huts and a bonfire with a whole pig being roasted, naked women attending the fire.
As Rebecca’s screams continue, office doors begin opening and faculty members rush to see what’s going on. Campus police are called, who in turn call to advise the president of the university. Campus Police Officer Zoey Harrington is first on scene, keeping everyone away from contaminating the evidence. Local police arrive twenty minutes later and begin their investigation.
Within several days, Stella Kingsley Zambear, the wife of Professor Zambear, is arrested and arraigned on first degree murder charges.

~~~

Kaya's choice to use a fictitious small but well-located university in a wealthy part of Alabama begins the novel with the death of a popular campus professor. His wife, Stella Kingsley, who is provost is immediately charged with his murder. Stella, who had been involved with Professor Zambear's hiring knew of her husband's reputation at that point, not only hiring him, but marrying him, stating that she had fallen in love with him at first sight. Then, claiming she knew what she would be getting into, could not do anything as her new husband continued in his pursuit of every willing female on campus, enjoying the notoriety, and humiliation of his wife, as well as any female who he enjoyed sexually and then left to move on to the next one... The year is 2019 when apparently sexual exploration in higher education is normal and there is no penalty whatsoever for a professor/student union!

Stella's father as well as the university president had advised Stella NOT to seek a divorce--for the good of the institution. Readers may think that she had the right for revenge. But, Stella did not kill her husband. She acknowledged that she and her husband had sex that evening at their home. But, around 11 PM he left her to go back to his office to work... He was killed around 2 AM that morning. Stella's DNA was still on his penis; no other suspects were considered, while all external news of the salacious murder was squashed by her father, a leader in both the university and the community surrounding the university. Indeed, at the time of the murder, there was not one security camera on campus. The entire campus was enclosed with wired fence hidden by shrubbery on both sides of the fence... There were 6 campus guards on duty at all times.

James Kingsley, himself, made the contact to Jack Ludefance, after conducting a thorough search for a private investigator to begin to investigate what had really happened, in order to free his daughter from suspicion. In the meantime, she was jailed, with no bond, due to the gravity of the situation.

In thinking about Ludefance, I'm torn
between Crocodile Dundee and Spenser... Spenser, of course, with Robert Ulrich would win; however, since Ludefance has a scar running down his face from fighting with an alligator, well, you can see Ludefance is not quite the gentleman PI individual that we think about when we're actually reading the book... Let's just say that Ludefance is worthy of being seen in future movies featuring the best known PI living at this time--at least in novels... LOL

Ludefance also has a little bit of OCD, which resulted in what I've considered as his best and perfect novel... Yet! He's a planner and quickly pulls in his right-hand partner and tech expert. You'll love him as much as I do... He's the perfect counterpart to his boss...

After I arrived back at the hotel, I stopped in the bar to have a Sam Adams. Maybe it was time to call my hacker Rudy out in California and get him here to do what he does best. Moving to an empty table away from other customers, I dialed Rudy’s number.
As soon as the first ring finished, I heard his voice, “Hello, Boss! Do we have a case?”
I had to laugh. Rudy was, to say the least, a strange young man for many reasons, but he’d become invaluable to me in helping solve my last three cases.
“Your presumption is correct, Rudy. Yes, we have a case. It’s just your kind of job and I need you here ASAP.”
“Yessss!!!” came his quick and happy reply. He continued, “Boss you know how much I like working with you, and my Buzzard friends are really pleased with your generous pay. Do you think we can include them in this investigation?”
“What’s the matter, Rudy? You starting to slow down in hacking computers?”
“No! Never, Boss. And, you know I’m damn good at it!”
“Then why do you need your Buzzard friends?”
“Because as good as I am, they are much, much better. Especially with things I don’t like to get involved in. You know what I mean.”
“I do, Rudy. I do. So, are you behaving yourself out there?”
“Yeah, Boss. No problems. Oh, do you mean like have I been in jail again?”

~~~

Ludefance quickly gets Rudy searching for the background of the man who was murdered... At the same time, he buys a drone to survey the campus, realizing that if the security was so tight that even the professor had called in to be allowed into his campus building, then perhaps there could be another way to get on campus. They quickly found a location where a part of the fence had been cut...

But during that survey, Rudy had cried out that he thought what he was now seeing was...a...body! Yes, a young woman was found, her foot attached to a concrete block to pull her down... Did the killer even know that the lake normally became dry during summer months? Ludefance quickly checked out everything that was found with her before the police arrived... Khole Rivers had been murdered, the name of the already dead professor was in her belongings, and they found the first possible important clue. A bitcoin...

It was through this woman that they found a possible twist to why the murder of Professor Zambear had occurred... Ludefance had learned that Zambear had been concerned enough about what was happening in and about the Amazon River that he had created a foundation through which funds could be diverted to his foundation through an investment program...

And that's when a murder mystery quickly turned into an international thriller and when, later, even the mention of the Russian Mafia possibly being involved made Ludefance very nervous. He knew just how dangerous it could get, and, when he had to gun down an intruder coming into his hotel room, that's when the action heats up and I was clicking page after page as more and more information was being found through Rudy and his friends' hacking skills!

Ludefance was ahead of the local police and campus officers at every point, first, by naming the professor's killer, and, second, naming the person who had killed the woman in the lake, warning the police that the latter could easily flee given her background. Which she then did!

And around that time, the author is announcing that his next novel will hopefully come out in late 2024, titled,  Deception--In 2020, as the world faces the Covid-19 pandemic, Jack confronts the challenge of his career, navigating through a case involving political, medical, and client deception.

Personally, I'm already excited, waiting to read the NEXT book, even though you all won't be able to read this one until next month... I'm hooked on this series... much like I was on the Talanov Series by James Turner.  Even though that one had been my personal favorite, I think Ludefance has surpassed it for me. The action and tension are similar, but it is the author's writing that has swayed me... I had never used the word Perfection for any other book I've read, to date! And we know that I've reviewed at least over 3000 books here at Book Readers Heaven, mostly fiction novels... 

Start reading and catch up on the series, at least by reading all my previous reviews here! Better yet, get the books and meet a dynamite team just like Spenser had... Only difference is Hawk was the sometime muscle, while Rudy is a computer expert. In this book, there is even a new love interest who just might be staying in the series... We'll see!

Yes, I loved this book, which takes this writer to the level of the major fiction authors of this generation. It's timely, a fascinating dip into the use of cryptocurrency, and most of all character-driven. It's definitely a 2024 personal favorite for me! I'll be announcing when it is out! Watch for it!

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