Title: The Lying Spiral

Author Craig Tyson Adams

Genre: Mystery / Crime

The Lying Spiral by Craig Tyson Adams follows private investigator Elias Gentry as he trails the missing girlfriend of a wealthy peer. What starts as a simple case quickly evolves into something much more sinister as more people turn up dead and hits are made on Elias’s own life. His investigation sends him to Mexico, where he gets in deep, learning of drug cartel connections to his case that link to his hometown, Edge City.

Told in punchy, straightforward prose, Elias is the narrator. His voice has grit and realism, which immediately draws the reader in. Even for those who are not readers of the hardboiled detective genre, the author’s wise choice to tell the story in first person and to give the protagonist an edgy, humorous personality thus makes the pages turn easily and renders an additional character in the narrator who feels almost separate from the protagonist at times.

Adams is a master at creating a narrative rife with metaphor mixed with everyday descriptions of life. Nestled among Elias hunting down a killer or drinking himself to a stupor are truth nuggets and almost poetic verse. It is a balancing act that few authors can pull off, but Adams achieves it. In addition, to have the ability to write humor, even in dark situations, is no small feat. All these different aspects of narrative creation work seamlessly together to craft a compelling page turner.

Elias Gentry is a realistic, relatable, quite imperfect protagonist, yet we root for him. Adams provides enough backstory to explain why Elias is a private investigator rather than a police officer, which he previously was, and why he is so interested in missing persons cases. His personal involvement in his line of work adds depth to the character. To him, his work is not a mere job to earn an income. In fact, he often wastes his money on booze and dates with a woman named Gail who he meets at the local bar. Elias drinks too much, smokes too much, eats unhealthily, and won’t commit to a relationship with Gail—which she won’t either, yet he is likeable because he is an average guy with a messy life but a good heart.

Adams allows the story to unfold naturally, one event rolling effortlessly into the next. The pacing is just right, and the climax and conclusion are satisfying. That said, while Adams employs typical hardboiled detective tropes often to satisfying effect, because he utilizes so many of them, such as a sardonic first-person narrator, a protagonist who drinks and smokes too much, and the involvement of bad cops, these familiar tropes may come across as a touch overfamiliar.

The Lying Spiral is an enjoyable, gritty, easy-to-read hardboiled detective mystery that will not only draw in lovers of the genre but also most readers. Adams has crafted an intriguing protagonist and plot alike, full of edgy humor and a balanced amount of poetic prose and realism. The Lying Spiral adds to the crime and mystery genre another entertaining story that conforms to similar stories, yet adds a relevant, timely tale of drug cartels and human trafficking.

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