The Alibi Man
by Tami Hoag
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Book Reviews of The Alibi Man
Book Review: Rich guys from alibi's for each other
Summary: 5 Stars
A thoroughly suspenseful story that was very hard to leave. I have read all of Tami Hoag's books and this might be the best. A group of rich men think they have devised a way to cover themselves from guilt by lying and giving alibi's for each other when one of them is in trouble. It works great for them as long as they all stay together when they give their alibi's for each other, but will they be able to continue to do just that?
Elena Estes used to be a cop but she decided that she liked the company of horses much more than those she had to confront as a cop. A good friend of hers, Sean Avadon, owned a horse farm and Elena had gone to work for him after her time as a cop. Elena loved to ride horses, enjoying the freedom one gets while roaming the peaceful countryside. But when she finds the body of a woman in a canal during one of her rides, her enjoyable ride turned nasty all at once. An alligator and some of the many flesh eaters in a Florida canal were enjoying the body. Elena phoned her old police friend, James Landry, and he started the cops rolling to the remote area. The victim turned out to be Irina Markova, a co-worker of Elena's at the horse farm.
Elena being an ex-cop was told by Landry not to start investigating on her own since she was no longer a cop. But Landry knew Elena would not listen and would delve into the case secretly, especially since she knew the victim fairly well. In the area was a famous polo club, the International Polo Club, where the rich loved to play. One of the rich star polo players was Juan Barbaro, a handsome man that loved good looking and rich women and while Elena was not rich, she was good looking. Barbaro was a member of the Alibi Club as was Elena's former fiancé. Bennett Walker. Elena hated Walker's guts and couldn't stand being around him and she knew in her mind that with all the bad things he had done when she was associated with him, he could have had something to do in the murder.
Barbaro wanted Elena and she wasn't too unhappy being with him except for his alibi connection. When Elena is contacted in a far too menacingly way by a member of the Russian mob, Alexi Kulak, she got scared and knew there was much more to this murder along with the murder of another girl that showed up dead in the area. Now it appears to be a possible prostitution ring connecting the Russian mob and the Alibi Club rich guys.
If all of the above doesn't spark your desire to read this book nothing will. Tami Hoag has written a non-stop action thriller that connects many facets of Palm Beach, Florida rich polo life, and Russian mobs with the police interaction keeping Elena in the action all the way. Though scared she was not one to quit when her friends were involved. A MUST read.
Book Review: Hoag fans will love it! - review by Patti Phillips
Summary: 4 Stars
Bestselling suspense author, Tami Hoag, began her professional writing career in the romance genre, but stretched that framework to include everything from comedy to suspense. Her strong female characters were savvy, contemporary types and readers connected.
As more of Hoag's work shifted into the thriller/suspense realm, it reflected the rising audience interest in forensics and began to include more of the graphic details of the crime scenes and the violence visited upon the victims. Today, her bad guys are darker, more depraved, and her heroines more likely to engage in the kind of retribution that would raise the eyebrows of the faint-hearted.
"Alibi Man" returns former undercover cop, Elena Estes, to the hard, fast world of Palm Beach society and the nasty secrets lying beneath the surface. When a fellow horse groom and marginal friend is found murdered, Elena is drawn back into the life she'd like to forget and must deal with buried emotions she thought she had hidden from the world. Elena is grippingly portrayed as a deeply tortured soul, and we feel her pain as her personal life is laid before us chapter, by aching chapter.
The action in "Alibi Man" is fast-paced, filling the pages with cold-blooded crime figures snipping off body parts, drug/sex parties, handsome polo stars and a cop boyfriend.
The plot weaving the colorful characters together is less successful, only because I don't quite buy that the rich and powerful would be dumb enough to get themselves into such stupid personal messes. One at a time, yes, but collectively? However, the name of the book may tell it all. Supreme arrogance probably dictates the need for an Alibi Man.
Rated R for graphic language and very adult situations
Book Review: The return of Tami Hoag's best character so far.
Summary: 4 Stars
Elena Estes, the battlescarred (literally and figuratively) cop from "Dark Horse," is back to seeing that justice is served in this fast-paced murder mystery.
Elena had given up on a lot-- her career as a police officer, her relationship with Detective Landry, and her having her own home-- and seized a last chance at happiness when she went to work for her horse-owning friend Sean Avedon. Unfortunately for her, the seedy crime world of Palm Beach has followed her from the horse show grounds to the polo arena, and this time it's personal. This time she knew the victim well, and the potential suspect even better...
As most sequels go, this was not as good as the original. Tami Hoag knows her stuff when it comes to the horse world, and I missed that commentary a lot in this book; most of the subject matter nominally involves the polo social scene and actually involves the Russian mob instead. There was also a bit too much down time that somehow allowed to Elena to spend most of her time being in places she never should have been able to get into, and then pondering it for a while. It was still fast-paced, but I found it much easier to put down than Dark Horse.
However, I'm still giving it four stars because I love Elena's attitude. Tami Hoag has a serious talent for creating likable-but-flawed characters who can also deliver great one-liners. Elena's characterization saves this thriller from being too ordinary.
Book Review: Mesmerizing... yours truly, the splendor of mystery writer Tami Hoag...
Summary: 5 Stars
In her acknowledgment, with class and grace Tami Hoag salutes those who assist in making a bestseller: "My job [on a book]--which is conception, gestation, and birth--is only the beginning. There is a large extended family that sees me through my process, ...from there... turns the daydreams and nightmares of my imagination into the book [you will hold in your hands] -- 'The Alibi Man'. As in Hoag's breathtaking 'Dark Horse' (one of my all-time favorites as an avid reader and reviewer), Elena Estes is back in another spine-tingling tale of a former undercover cop, murder, power, and interfering elements in Elena's past. The tingling begins with a ringing phone and a voice "She was a dream... a siren... a vision, a mythical goddess... . She was a nightmare. She was dead." And the voice placing the phone call says urgently: "I need an alibi." Elena rides Arli, always preferring the company of horses vs. humans, just as the 'sun was beginning to break', in layers of fog, where alligators waited... she sees first an arm reaching out of the black water... hair floating above the water. The victim is someone she recognizes... Irina Markova, whom she worked with at Sean's stables. Turns and twists lead to the 'Alibi Club', the Russian mafia, Elena's re-encounters with an ex-lover... Read it! You can't miss with a Tami Hoag novel! Josephine Kaszuba Locke, Book Hugger, Ace Reviewer[...]
Book Review: The plot galloped right along
Summary: 4 Stars
I really enjoyed THE ALIBI MAN as a novel that kept a good pace and had no really boring or slow moving moments. I read a few reviews that described this novel as unnecessarily graphic. I just didn't see that. I thought it was delightfully graphic where it needed to be. When one is dealing with horrific murders and with unmerciful people who wish to terrorize potential witnesses or perpetrators, what would you expect? I think this would have been a 5 star book for me had the main character, Elena, been just a little more likable. I did grow somewhat tired of her continueing to try to act tough. She's an adult now. Grow up and get over it. Okay, your adopted dad was a jerk. Move on! Detective Landry was well done. I could actually believe he was a cop with a sense of duty and he was pretty competent at his job. Weiss was a bit hard to take and he just kind of disapeared towards the end of the book. I don't know how to describe Bennett Walker, but Barbaro was my pick as the biggest sleeze in the book. I was really hoping something awful was going to happen to him. I won't give away any details in the way of spoilers. I will conclude with something of a spoiler though: Way to go, Svetlana! All in all, this was a very good novel, fast paced and interesting. Another nice piece of work from one of my favorite authors.