A LONG WAY FROM EDEN

A Long Way from Eden
by David Chacko
288 pages
Paperback $14.99 U.S.
Chelsea Press 2001
Booksurge
Reissued March 2004
Action Tales as e-book
ISBN 1-59109-240-X

A Long Way from Eden begins with the body of a woman found in a sinkhole. Adam Templeton, with his partner Joe, has the task of finding out the identity of the woman, why she was murdered, who killed her, and why she is in a sinkhole in Florida. The woman does have an identifying tattoo of a scarab at the base of her neck. From changing lifestyles, to religious cults, to the use of hypnotic drugs, the short life of the ever changing web-based database computer system companies, in an action-adventure form; A Long Way from Eden is a delightfully fast-paced novel.

The characters are very realistic with normal problems that add depth to their individual personalities. Adam finds himself even becoming immersed in the death of the girl’s mother while attempting to understand the victim and her life. The influence of religious cults is a strong underlying factor throughout this novel and adds to the unlimited threads of investigation. Even Adam’s personal life with Ghislene becomes an integral influence upon the thinking process in solving this murder.

The pace of this novel was very quick and flew as clues were discovered. The discovery process does remind you of a puzzle as you build upon each previously correctly placed piece and do not really visualize the entire picture until its completion.

David Chacko spends his time between Florida and the city of Istanbul. Even though his life itself sounds like a novel with traveling between those two places, his time spent in Florida and this area was invaluable with the pacing and the sequencing.
The only negative comment that can be said about, A Long Way from Eden is the lack of availability. This mystery is well-written, fast-paced, and keeps the reader wondering about the novel and also why the author has worked with so many different publishers and has had difficulty getting this book into a hard copy. Supposedly it will be available from Amazon in February 2004 and if it isn’t go to the author’s website at www.davidchacko.com. This book is worth well-worth any extra time and effort spent in finding it.

“A Long Way from Eden is a good book and deserves a better life.” Even though the author himself said this, I strongly agree with this statement and personally plan to find some of his other books previously published and look forward to reading other novels in the future by this unique author.