Voodoo Hideaway

We rated this book:

$18.99


What if you could change the past? Would you take the chance of altering the future irrevocably? What if you walked into the past by accident, how would you behave? Elrod is a homeless man who is getting ready to find a comfortable sleeping spot in an alley when he stumbles upon a sight for his bleary eyes. He sees a bar, no doorman present, and decides to take his chances. The bar is named “The Hideaway.”

Once inside, Elrod is treated like royalty by Douglas, the manager of the establishment. Elrod is treated to drinks at rock-bottom prices, and he is enjoying himself one soothing spirit at a time. However, he is soon cautioned by a jazz musician named Red to not linger too long, as Elrod will be under the scrutiny of bad men. Elrod is still hazy as to the concept that he stepped into a time warp transporting him fifty years back in time.

Fat Sal is a gangster with pending legal issues. His racketeering reign has come under the scrutiny of a pioneering senator. Sal knows that a RICO indictment will put him behind bars for the rest of the foreseeable future. As he contemplates his options, he is approached by a scientist offering a potential way out. Dr. Lionel Bunt is a brilliant man who has found a path into the past. He wants to parlay his knowledge of the wormhole into monetary gain for himself.

Bunt tells Sal that he can hide from the law in the past, while building his empire much earlier. Bunt’s condition for his help is Sal funneling him a percentage of the money in the future. Sal’s main concern is how the money can be transported without it being stolen or the courier getting wise to being used. Bunt assuages Sal’s concern by stating that the courier wouldn’t know what they were carrying. The conspirators need a useful idiot: enter Elrod. The stakes are high for Sal and Bunt, but equally so for Elrod when he realizes that his trip into the past has complicated his present.

Voodoo Hideaway shines as an absorbing mystery/sci-fi tale from the outset. Elrod emerges as a down on his luck protagonist, embroiled in a complicated plot he is loath to understand, let alone participate in. Vance Cariaga has written a clever story in which the action is as ceaseless as the plotting, with danger lurking around every corner.


Reviewed By:

Author Vance Cariaga
Star Count /5
Format Trade
Page Count 361 pages
Publisher Atmosphere Press
Publish Date 20-Jun-2021
ISBN 9781637529171
Bookshop.org Buy this Book
Issue February 2022
Category Mystery, Crime, Thriller
Share