Charlie Cooper, reluctant teacher by day and broken-hearted wanderer by night, is a man desperately in love with a dead woman.

But is Angeline St. Cyr really dead?

The supermodel fell victim to an auto-pedestrian accident in New Orleans. Police reports and medical records substantiate the severity of her injuries. Cosmetics mogul Mathieu Fournier, her former boss, orchestrated a cremation and memorial service. The paparazzi swarmed celebrity attendees. Fans mourned.

Call it gut instinct, call it what you will, but Cooper is convinced Angeline's death was an elaborate scheme Fournier sold to the world. He isn’t buying it, nor is his heart.

A tenuous lead draws him to the Caribbean island of Jacqueme Dominique. Only Cooper isn’t alone in his quest. By chasing his dream of rekindled love, he becomes embroiled in murder, treachery and abduction at the hands of his old nemesis Willem Voorhees — a merciless killer.

For five long years Cooper’s love survived while he searched for Angeline. Will finding her cost him his life?

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Review Companies MR Review
Rating:
Reviewer: IvyD
Review:

Cooper refuses to believe it when told that Angeline St. Cyr died after being hit by a car. The fact that her best friend Braeden was also involved and injured in the accident doesn’t convince him. Attending her funeral doesn’t make him believe in her death either. His gut is telling him she’s still alive and he’s going with it. For five years he’s followed every lead no matter how tenuous. Has it finally paid off on the tiny island of Jacquerne Donimique? The search for the woman he still loves is the only thing that has distracted him from pursuing “The Dutchman” as he refers to Voorhees. The monster who left Cooper and his student, an eight year old, in an abandoned well to die. Cooper survived, barely, the boy didn’t.

Angeline and Cooper have love but a lot of obstacles to overcome, not the least being her deception for the last five years. More understandable is Cooper’s obsession with stopping Voorhee’s. The Dutchman still continues to commit atrocities and walk away scot free. The loathing the men have for each other fuels a cat and mouse game that only one can walk away from. Each desires nothing less than the annihilation of the other with Voorhee’s being more than willing to sacrifice innocents in his quest to torture and kill Cooper.

Mangroves and Monsters is a finely wrought mystery. The characters are well defined, each having their own vested interest in the events being played out. The tension keeps you on edge as it steadily builds toward a dramatic confrontation. The conclusion has an unexpected twist that I didn’t see coming but felt was the perfect end to an exceptional mystery. My only complaint is that while this can be read as a standalone there is a lot of history you miss. I didn’t read anything in the description that led me to believe there was a prior book with these characters and feel it should be indicated.

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