In his first novel, Bruce Banta has crafted a gripping tale of murder and betrayal.
A Dead Man’s Chest races along at break-neck speed. From the opening sentence the reader is drawn into a desperate, heart-pounding race following Davey Jones as he eludes the people who killed his best friend in a vicious attack on a remote marijuana plantation.
Both guided and misguided by a bewildering message, Jones searches for his dead friend’s sea chest and the answers that lay within. But he runs into people on both sides of the law who need the contents of that chest to stay buried, under bodies if necessary.
Set in the temperate rain forest of Vancouver Island, A Dead Man’s Chest is a skilfully woven tapestry of coastal scenery and vivid characters. The multi-level plot unfolds seamlessly and holds the reader captive as the players are each tugged along their own paths to the remote plantation, where they sift into place like the ingredients of gunpowder. A frightened cat and a wired junkie light the fuse in the rain.
Banta will be at Coho Books Saturday night for a book signing.
About the Author
Bruce Banta was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. He has published a short story, Puma, and was awarded through the Surrey Writer’s Conference for an excerpt from this novel. He lives with his wife, Debra, on Quadra Island, nestled in the emerald fiords of coastal British Columbia, where he is an accomplished scuba diver, coastal navigator and small vessel operator. A Dead Man’s Chest is his first novel and is now available in Campbell River at Coho Books, Stillwater Books, Save-On-Foods and on Quadra Island at the Heriot Bay Inn and Book Bonanza in the Cove.