The Book
A woman and her young son flee to a convent on a remote island off the Breton coast of France. Generations of seafarers have named the place Ile de la Brume, or Fog Island. In a chapel high on a cliff, a tragic death occurs and a terrified child vanishes into the mist.
The child’s godmother, Maggie O’Shea, haunted by the violent deaths of her husband and best friend, has withdrawn from her life as a classical pianist. But then a recording of unforgettable music and a grainy photograph surface, connecting her missing godson to a long-lost first love.
The photograph will draw Maggie inexorably into a collision course with criminal forces, decades-long secrets, stolen art and musical artifacts, and deadly terrorists. Her search will take her to the Festival de Musique, Aix-en-Provence, France, where she discovers answers to the mystery surrounding her husband’s death, an unexpected love—and a musical masterpiece lost for centuries.
A compelling blend of suspense, mystery, political intrigue, and romance, The Lost Concerto explores universal themes of loss, vengeance, courage, and love.
The Author
Helaine Mario is the author of two novels of suspense, Firebird (Amazon 2012) and The Lost Concerto (Oceanview Publishing, July 2015).
New York City born and raised, Helaine is a Boston University graduate. She married in 1969 and moved to CT to raise her two children, volunteer at Save the Children, and write for the local newspaper.
In 1985, Helaine’s life took an unpredictable turn when her husband’s career brought her family to Potomac, MD. For all eight years of the Clinton Presidency, she was a White House volunteer for Tipper and Al Gore, and continues to be a passionate advocate for public service and women & children’s issues.
Because Helaine believes strongly in “giving back,” she has worked on several non-profit boards and, in 1998, founded The SunDial Foundation, Inc., which benefits our most vulnerable women, children and families. She also created Project PJs, offering new books, bears and pajamas to under-served children in the community.
Helaine and her husband, Ron Mario, now spend their time in Arlington, VA - where she continues her advocacy work - Longboat Key, Florida, and Cape May, NJ. She is grateful to be a twelve year cancer survivor and is most proud of her two children and four beautiful grandchildren. Her son, Sean, is the pianist who inspired the classical music background in The Lost Concerto.
When it comes to writing, Helaine wants, more than anything, to tell a good story, create characters with depth, and paint pictures with words. To make people feel. She wants to be a storyteller forever.
http://helainemario.com/
Goodreads
My Review
The Lost Concerto starts out on a late August night in Brittany France, where a woman and her little son are on the run. They hide at Norte-Dame du Sauf Retour, Our Lady of the Safe Return, she thinking that this would be a safe place until she figures out what to do next. Unfortunately their hiding place is not safe from the hunter and the woman dies and the little boy flees hoping to get away.
Maggie O'Shea, a classical pianist, has not played since the death of her husband in a boating accident. Her husband, Johnny O'Shea, a journalist is on a mission to see what happened to Maggie's best friend Sofia and her little boy Tommy. Maggie is still grieving but often feels Johnny's presence urging her on and to continue through her grief because she blames herself for his death as she was the one who asked him to try to find out what happened to her best friend and who now has Tommy.
Maggie has a close friend in the FBI and he enlists Maggie's help because picture surfaces that links a lost love to little Tommy.. The reason? Well it turns out that the murder of her friend Sofia could be part of an investigation into stolen art, music and terrorism. The person that the FBI needs to find turns out to be a former lover and father of her son Brian, who is also a pianist, Zachary Law was reported MIA years back. Zach is the one who may hold the key to this entire mystery if he is alive. Through the FBI agent, Maggie is to have a man by the name of Beckett who just wants to be at home in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a kind of crusty person with baggage of his own along with her as she travels to France. Together they need to see if they can find Zach Law and figure out who and why Sofia Orsini was murdered and what about the musical masterpiece that has been missing for years.
This is one of those mysteries that you have to keep turning the pages because you just have to know what happens next. Lots of twists and turns to keep the reader interested. Lots of suspense, political intrigue and lost love. This novel has elements of vengeance, loss and courage. There are lots of good and enough bad guys to keep the reader interested. I enjoyed the authors way of telling a story with a fast paced, page turning theme and well thought out characters. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a well written, compelling story. This is the author's second suspense novel, the first was Firebird published in 2013.
I received a copy of the book for review and was not monetarily compensated for said review.
No comments:
Post a Comment