Reviewed by Keith Mbuya for Readers' Favorite

Life in Sullivan, a small border town in Florida, had been anything but fun for Janet Schroeder. Perhaps things would have been different had she never met Bobby Drexler, her toxic, abusive, and violent husband. It was a mystery how she had ended up with Bobby, the boy who had bullied her from elementary school and through high school. Scared of Bobby’s return from jail, where he was locked up following a botched robbery, Janet reaches out to her childhood friend Stacy for help. Now an aspiring songwriter, Stacy had been chasing a seemingly dodgy breakthrough. The two women head to the tourist-filled streets of Key West, eager for a new start and new possibilities. As they cross paths with Eli, an escape artist in the twilight of his career, and Randall, a charter boat captain burdened with financial troubles and the ghosts of his past, what does life have in store for them? Find out in Nic Schuck’s Green Flash at Sunset.

Weaving an intriguing plot, Schuck hooked me right from the first page. A violent, haunting introduction sets the stage for a poignant tale of domestic violence, childhood trauma, high school drama, secrets, deception, regrets, survival, shattered dreams, and more. Schuck has a knack for making the scenes tremendously dramatic, adding a touch of twisted humor to the story. The evocative and cinematic depictions brought the scenes to life and full color on the pages. It felt like I was next to the cast in every scene, closely following their flawed lives unfolding from the multiple perspectives and double timeline. The raw, gritty, character-driven conversations, alongside the introspective commentary, gave depth to the cast’s conflicts. Schuck harnesses sentiment to the storyline, allowing me to experience the cast’s emotions. Juxtaposing their complex traits made it easy to connect with them. Nic Schuck’s Green Flash at Sunset is what lovers of drama novels blended with suspense, thrills, and noir crime should be looking for.