Ends of the Earth by Tim Downs - REVIEWED

“I’m going to tell you something, Nicholas. I don’t think you’re going to like it, but you need to hear it any way – and after all these years I believe I’ve earned the right to say it. You are not an insect.” ( p 209)

I have adored Nick Polchak from the moment I met him – even if he looks and acts like the bugs he love to study. Now, in Ends of the Earth, he finally discovers he just might be human after all! What a ride! Once again, Polchak is called to the scene of a grizzly murder and asked to study the maggots infesting the wounds to determine the time of death. As it turns out, while his presence is appreciated by the law enforcement of the area, he was requested by a rather beautiful woman from his past. And if that wasn’t interesting enough, Nick in turn requests the presence of Alena and her miraculously talented but very weird dogs to help him solve the crime. Things have never been so confusing!

Once again, the reader enjoys all of the twists and turns of a good murder mystery, but this time the effects of the crime are far reaching and deadly to potentially millions! Add to that the fact that the two women in the story are fighting over Nick like a dog over a bone, and the fact that one of the bad guys has wormed his way (pun very intended!) into Nick’s lab and you have the most entertaining Bug Man novel yet! I absolutely LOVE Nick’s sarcastic wit, and Alena’s sharp tongue isn’t far behind!

Now, Tim Downs tried something new at the end that I found highly frustrating! Pick an ending indeed! Good grief, man! Y

ou can’t pick an ending after the book is published! You should have run that poll before the presses rolled and not left the ending so discombobulated! Now fans must either wait for another Bug Man novel, or be forever disappointed if the series ends with no resolution. The romantics in your fan base are not happy!

Okay, rant over. The story is GREAT, as usual! Nick is more endearing than ever, and I have my personal favorite among his pursuant females. So, I’ll just have to wait along with everyone else to see how things turn out! Until then…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tim Downs is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Indiana University. After graduation in 1976 he created a comic strip, Downstown, which was syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate until 1986. His cartooning has appeared in more than a hundred major newspapers worldwide. His first book, a work of non-fiction, was awarded the Gold Medallion Award in 2000, and his third novel, PlagueMaker, was awarded the Christy Award for best CBA suspense novel of 2007. Tim lives in Cary, North Carolina, with his wife Joy.