The Killer from Marble Falls High
Situated in the northern section of the Texas Hill Country lies the small town of Marble Falls, cut in half by the Texas Colorado River. In March of 2021, not long after the insurrection on the United States democracy, the tranquil town is hit with the after shocks of hate and hypocrisy set in stone from the previous four years. The top alt-right groups in the nation expand their membership deep into the ranks of Marble Falls High School. Students are cheated out of their normal teenage life by the Covid 19 Pandemic. Many are forced to attend classes at home via Zoom, others are made to walk the halls in single file wearing masks while keeping six feet apart. Some of these students become prime targets for those wishing to spread their agenda of hate. A hate so intense that it eventually leads to murder in Marble Falls.
Trever Ryan and Fritz Carter live close by outside of town on a one hundred acre ranch once used for raising cattle. Best friends since kindergarten, the boys grow up to reach high school and encounter a stumbling block in their friendship due to Trever coming out during the school’s Christmas recital in his junior year.
Fritz, the high school quarterback, fears for his reputation having a close friend who is gay and out of the closet. Circumstances bring the two boys together during their senior year along with a small group of friends to help the Marble Falls’ Chief of the Criminal Investigation Division, Trever’s father, get the killer behind bars.
Reviews for The Killer from Marble Falls High
5.0 out of 5 stars
The headlines wrapped in a sweet story of young love in a modern world
This book was a bit of a surprise. I expected a coming of age young adult novel but this book is that and so much more. Yes, there are several high schoolers at the crux of the story. Yes, they are paramount to the solution of the mystery. However, the book is also a present day thriller that satisfies on a higher plane and keeps even a more jaded adult interested and enthralled wanting to know what is going on, what the motivations are and who are the perpetrators. The love story between the protagonists is sweet, angst filled and true to life. The entire storyline reads like the front page of a major newspaper. I must admit I was really pleasantly surprised at how really good this book is, not because the author was new to me, because he is not, but because it is not my usual type of story. This is a gritty, no holds barred slice of life drama. I highly recommend it.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well done and highly recommended
The author has done it again – created a thrilling, well-written mystery novel that holds the reader’s attention from beginning to the surprise ending. The details of the setting in a Texas hill country community provide the backdrop and foundation for the story. They are factual enough to make the fiction believable. The inclusion of current political and social issues following the January 6 incursion of the nation’s capital also provides a very realistic flavor to the story. And the author’s ability to enter into and portray teenage characters and their high school setting, not just adequately, but poignantly, is a literary achievement. Each of the young actors in the story is believable and become ever more endearing as the story unfolds and the mystery is solved, with a dramatic twist at the very end. Well done and highly recommended!