John Lange’s GRAVE DESCEND, the latest crackerjack thriller from Hard Case Crime, practically writes its own review with a line of dialogue straight from page 24: “It is, after all, a very good story — bizarre sinking of a luxury yacht, with mysterious beautiful girl on board.”

Truth be told, that should be all you need to hear to grab your interest, but I’ll spill a little more. In this 1970 novel, resurrected for its first American reprint, the hero is McGregor, a freelance diver hired to salvage secret cargo from the titular downed yacht, which he’s told went down mysteriously the day prior. Something doesn’t quite up in McG’s mind, however, and when he does some sniffing around a few hours before an agreed-upon, pre-dive helicopter flyover, his suspicions are confirmed: The yacht hasn’t sunk at all.

That’s only the start, but to reveal more would be unfair, especially since DESCEND runs less than 200 pages. With such frugality, this mystery/adventure moves with the speed of a hammerhead shark – which, incidentally, McGregor encounters.

If the Lange name rings a bell, there’s good reason why. And DESCEND exhibits the trademarks of the author’s similar early works, particularly A CASE OF NEED: a blunt, to-the-point protagonist; very short, no-nonsense scenes; quick flashes of action; and, at its heart, a puzzle that’s truly puzzling and at least two steps ahead of the reader. –Rod Lott

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