Dark Ride Deception by Mark S Bacon – book review

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an ebook I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

I have received a free e-copy of the book Dark Ride Deception by Mark S Bacon to review. You may find out more about the author on his website.

Here is the book blurb.

Is Tom Wyrick Dead? The computer genius is missing. So are his priceless tech secrets. Time for Lyle to go undercover again.

Tom Wryick’s mind-bending technology will rocket Nostalgia City theme park decades ahead of the competition. But the computer genius is missing. So are his secrets. Is he dead? On the run? His billion-dollar, breathtaking discovery is the Perception Deception Effect.

An FBI agent theorizes the People’s Republic of China is responsible for the disappearance.The Nostalgia City CEO, however, is convinced a rival theme park is behind the theft. He drafts ex-cop turned theme park cab driver Lyle Deming to fly to Florida to find the missing computer scientist and recover his secrets.

Does this have anything to do with the severed human finger Lyle finds in his cab?

Back in Nostalgia City, park executive, 6’ 2” Kate Sorensen, a former college basketball star, is persuaded to investigate the death of an actor starring in a Vietnam-era crime movie being filmed at the Arizona park. Nostalgia City is a meticulous re-creation of a 1970s small town.

Shrugging off jet lag, anxiety, and oppressive Florida humidity, Lyle goes undercover using a parade of false identities to snoop behind the scenes at another theme park’s engineering and computer offices. He’s forced to jump from one covert scheme to another as his identity is exposed, his safety jeopardized.

In the meantime, Kate confronts a mentally unstable actor—fresh out of rehab. But she may be forced to give up the murder case—Lyle needs help.

Kate and Lyle have little time to explore their nascent romantic relationship as both their investigations turn deadly, threatening them and the future of Nostalgia City.

Dark Ride Deception is the fourth title in the Nostalgia City series, but it works perfectly as a stand-alone read. I haven’t read any of the earlier titles yet.

Nostalgia City is a theme park in Arizona based on a full-size recreation of a 1970s small town, so everyone is discouraged from visibly using their mobile phones and other modern technology.

The book starts with taxi driver Lyle discovering a human finger whilst cleaning the back of his cab, not the usual sort of thing for a fare to leave behind. And certainly a new way to try to hook the reader into a story.

Meanwhile Lyle’s girlfriend Kate who works on Nostalgia City’s PR is coordinating arrangements for a movie to be filmed at the theme park, including smoothing things out with some of the actors.

Lyle is an ex-cop and Max Maxwell, CEO of the park lets him in on the secret that future park technology plans have been stolen and the developer Tom Wyrick is missing too. Max wants Lyle to find Tom.

But when one of the actors dies, allegedly a suicide, Kate’s friend Steph believes he was murdered and asks Kate to investigate.

As the book progresses, it feels like two stories intertwined, from both Lyle and Kate’s viewpoints. Is there a connection?

Dark Ride Deception is available on Amazon in kindle format. A thrilling mystery with plenty of twists and turns. I can definitely recommend this read.

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