One way canoe ride anyone? (Maid of the Mist - Colin Bateman)

Member Name: sympatic

Product:	Maid of the Mist - Colin Bateman
Date:	28/01/09 (111 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Darkly funny

Disadvantages: None really

Anyone who has been fortunate enough to visit Niagra Falls will recognise the title of this book as signifying the boat cruise you can go on which transports you to the foot of the falls right into the mist cloud. Despite the tacky side to the tourist trap it does have a rather sleepy attraction to it and tat is one of the things that appealed to Inspector Frank Corrigan after his previous time as a police officer in Northern Ireland.

However things start to change when a beautiful Indian girl goes over the falls in a canoe and survives, she appears to be the reincarnated form of a mythical Red Indian princess called Lelewala. Next thng he knows a number of very shady characters are on the scene and things start to get both violent and weird.

I find Colin Bateman books to be a wonderful mixture of dark comedy and well crafted plot lines and this particular book is no exception, Corrigan is an excellent lead character who is going through a bad patch after his wife left him but sees new hope in the beautiful princess.

This is an amusing read and while it is not the sort of book that will have you laughing out loud it will cause you to have a few wry smiles along the way at the style in which he crafts some comedy situations. It is a little on the short side at just under 250 pages but it is an entertaining read and equally as good as his other work.

Summary: Good book