Joe LaFlam is a private detective who specializes in working with Christians because his ultimate goal in life is to marry the perfect woman. He wants to marry so bad he's committed to fasting for twenty-one days. The perfect match walks through his office door one day during his fast. She claims that her sister Bertie has run off to join a cult. Joe takes the case immediately with hopes to win her heart.
Bye Bye Bertie
is not very long at all. My copy was large print, and it was only 234 pages long at that. Not only is the mystery really bad, but there many surrounding plot points that make for a very unusual read.The characters aren't even imperfect or realistic. They are downright strange. They act and talk abnormally, yet everyone around them thinks that it's normal. Among these characters are a woman who speaks gibberish, claiming that it is a special language given to her from God that she can't understand, and a cult that believes the god of the earth will clone Bill Clinton and raise him up as a great leader.
If this wasn't enough to make you frown or scratch your head, than the mystery is sure to do you in. I understand why it ended the way it ended, but if it had not ended that way, it would have been extremely cheesy. The clues are obviously bogus and something that you would find in a children's movie.
All this plain weirdness is only masking typical plot devices such as romantic subplots and convenient connections. There's nothing new about the plot concepts Rick Dewhurst uses in this book.
To top it all off, the end is one of the weirdest ends I have ever read. It's far from original as it tries to explain some of the nonsense that has occured but falls on its face. This was supposed to be the first book in a series, but I am very sure that Rick's publisher dropped him like a hot potato since I can't find the rest. How the book was even published I have no idea.
Basically, if you've never heard of this book, there is definitely a reason.
1 star
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