Review of WICKED BREAK by Jeff Shelby

Noah Braddock, a private investigator and surfer, accepted a normal case of finding a missing younger brother. A case that would be solved by simply beginning where the young man was last seen, right? Nothingis as simple as it appears.

From the first place  Noah visited to the last, Noah sank little by little into a situation involving white supremicists and one of the worst gangs San Diego had ever seen.

Thrice Noah came close to losing his life. The first time caught him off guard; the last two times he outwitted his assailants.

Through it all, Noah wanted to have his ex-girlfriend back. He wanted to get closer to the woman who had failed to be the mother a little boy needed. So when Noah felt over-whelmed by the simple-turned-comlicated case, faced the hard child-hood memories, or experienced the pain of jealousy or fear, he found a measure of sanity riding the ‘wicked breaks’ washing the beach behind his home in Mission Beach.

Humorous repartee between Noah and his friend, Carter Hamm,, helped put balance back in Noah’s life. For instance, Noah believes that ‘arguing with Carter was like arguing with a three-year-old---a genetic freak of a three-year-old.’

Noah says, “Went to look for this guy’s brother at his apartment and while I was there, a girl got shot.”

“Shut up.” This seems to be Carter’s way of saying ‘Get outta here.’

Noah replies, “I’d like to, but you keep asking me questions.”

Again, Carter and Noah are questioning a female student when Carter looks at Noah and asks, “Weren’t you in I Phelta Thigh.”

Humor flows when these two friends get together and lightens the otherwise serious mood that street gangs and murder usually create.

I for one can do without graphic sex scenes that infiltrate just about every form of media there is from television to the news channels, so I liked ‘Wicked Break’ immensely because Mr. Shelby left out the sex scenes and proved that a good story can be told without the sex. The same can’t be said for the foul language, but at least it isn’t on every page.  Overall, Jeff Shelby is a new author, but with stories like his first novel “Killer Swell” and this second one “Wicked Break” he will rise to the top where Sue Grafton, Mariah Stewart, James Patterson and other greats have already attained and he’ll get there quickly.