The Rogue Wave

Finished December 12

The Rogue Wave by Paul Nicholas Mason

This short novel mixes mystery and the paranormal in a battle of good and evil. The main character here is Matthew Harding runs a detective agency in Toronto where he handles cases with a metaphysical dimension. A young man, Andrew, comes to him regarding the recent disappearance of his fiancee Hannah. The two were on a tour boat in Nova Scotia when a sudden and huge wave swamped the boat, taking several people, including Hannah overboard. Some people were rescued, some bodies were found, and Hannah remained missing. An acquaintance of Andrew's has recently sent him a picture taken at a wedding in Mexico where a woman who looks very like Hannah is sitting with a man that she looks to be scared of. Andrew is sure that something else is going on, and Matthew takes the case. 

This is when the paranormal starts raising his head. Matthew has a near miss with a vehicle hit and run accident on the street near his office and receives a disturbing text message following that. Throughout the case a combination of threats, accidents and disturbing messages continues to follow him. When he goes in person to Nova Scotia, he finds that there were other weird happenings around the boat incident, and he goes on to Mexico to follow the lead of the photograph. 

Besides the disturbing incidents and the threatening messages, Matthew also encounters some other more benevolent people, who offer help and advice. 

I liked the paranormal or metaphysical side in this struggle between good and evil. and would have liked this book to be longer, going into more detail around some of the characters, like Hannah, and their feelings during this time, and Andrew and his paintings. I'd also like to know more about what happened to some of the people he encountered, like the translator in Mexico. 

This is definitely a unique type of mystery read that may appeal to a different audience than just mystery readers.