The Tortoise Shell Code by Frank V. Asaro

Trailer:

Off the coast of Southern California, the Sea Diva, a tuna boat, sinks. Members of the crew are missing and what happened remains a mystery. Anthony Darren, a renowned and wealthy lawyer at the top of his game, knows the boat’s owner and soon becomes involved in the case. As the case goes to trial, a missing crew member is believed to be at fault, but new evidence comes to light and the finger of guilt points in a completely unanticipated direction.

Now Anthony must pull together all his resources to find the truth in what has happened and free a wrongly accused man—as well as untangle himself. Fighting despair, he finds that the recent events have called much larger issues into question. As he struggles to right this terrible wrong, Anthony makes new and enlightening dis¬coveries in his own life-long battle for personal and global justice.

I love a good courtroom drama on television. Sometimes, though, reading it can be a little cerebral. But if the drama has good banter between the parties sprinkled with a little old-time jealousy between friends that ranges a lifetime, along with a love affair, some drug running, and corporate greed, then you have a pretty good book. All of this was inside Frank Asaro’s latest.

• Amazon: The Tortoise Shell Code

The Tortoise Shell Code had a tight story line with lots of twists and unexpected turns. For me, it was a page turner and hour burner as it was hard to put down once I started it. His experience of courtroom proceedings and the descriptions of the play between the two opposing sides made for riveting reading.

The only thing that had me scratching my head is floating throughout the book is a philosophical idea of ‘universal co-opetition’. It is hard to fathom that world leaders, current inmates, drug runners, and even South American resistance fighters all could grasp the meaning from reading the same book. It didn’t work for me entirely. Until I realized the author penned a non-fiction title of the same name; I guess there’s no harm in the author getting an idea out by weaving it in fiction.

In the end, I enjoyed the book. The scenes were well described and I had a good time reading it, start to finish. I especially enjoyed the San Diego references. My favorite character was Andrea, a surprise treat that had me rooting for her over the main character all the way until the end.

Book Information:

• The Tortoise Shell Code; by Frank V. Asaro
• Bettie Youngs Books; 2012
• ISBN13: 9781936332601

Disclosure: This book was provided by the author and any opinions are my own.

This book was part of a Pump Up Your Book Virtual Book Tour.