Hollow Mountain

June 30, 2014
In Mogford’s breathless third Spike Sanguinetti novel (after 2013’s Sign of the Cross), the Gibraltar lawyer temporarily abandons his search for his lost love, Zahra, when he learns that his partner and best friend, Peter Galliano, lies near death, the victim of a suspicious hit-and-run. Picking up Peter’s caseload, Spike falls into a marine salvage operation run by Mort Clohessy, a ruthless treasure hunter. He also agrees to help a widow, Mrs. Grainger, who believes that her late husband, whose body was found on the Rock by the Barbary macaques, did not commit suicide as the police claim. Meanwhile, Spike receives an enigmatic call from Zahra, who warns him not to try to find her, and a shadowy killer dogs his footsteps. Torn, like the Rock itself, between two cultures, British and Mediterranean, Spike pursues his vision of justice under the torrid southern sun. A descent into Gibraltar’s eerie tunnels leads to a bittersweet finale. Agent: Nicola Barr, Greene & Heaton (U.K.).

June 1, 2014

Spike is still hunting for his missing love, Zahra, but he is temporarily distracted by his law partner's accident. Thrills don't get any better than those in Mogford's compelling Gibraltar-based series; this is number three (after Sign of the Cross).

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2014
The first two Spike Sanguinetti novels strayed from the Gibraltarian's home turf to nearby Tangier and Malta, and while this one has side trips, too (mainly to Italy's Amalfi Coast), it sticks closer to the Rock, concluding with a gripping set piece inside the fabled Hollow Mountain. Mogford writes full-bodied, multifaceted characters, and he's no slouch at suspenseful plotting, either, but landscape is his real sweet spot. In telling the story of Sanguinetti's investigation of his law partner's assault, and his ongoing search for his vanished girlfriend, Zahra, Mogford imbues the tale with the sights and sounds of Gibraltar, an island bridging two continents and home to a multicultural stew of remarkable richness and resonance. Melancholy continues to shroud the charismatic, brooding Sanguinetti, both in the present and the past, as his investigations lead to the mystery of his mother's suicide and to some startling revelations about Zahra. Recommend this outstanding series to fans of Jean-Claude Izzo's Marseilles trilogy, set in a similarly sun-speckled, racially turbulent Mediterranean locale and starring another darkness-engulfed hero.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)