Book Review: Diamonds and Cole by Michael Maxwell

Diamonds and Cole is the first book in the Cole Sage series by Michael Maxwell.

Quick Review (read on for full review)

Interesting and entertaining, I really like Cole Sage and am looking forward to reading more from this series. 4 / 5

Summary (from Wattpad)

Beaten, bloody but determined, Cole Sage conquers greed and hatred with a strength that only love and a will as hard as diamond can achieve.  He is blocked at every turn by the husband who has abandoned Cole’s great love, his shady real estate deals, violent con men, street thugs and the lure of a fortune in diamonds that bring them all together.  How far would you go for the one that got away?

Favourite Quote

“Any day above ground is a good day, I guess.” Cole replied.

(Diamonds and Cole by Michael Maxwell, Chapter 2)

Review

This story was not what I expected.  In a good way.  I was expecting a straight up mystery, but what I found instead was much deeper than that.  Highly emotional, tender and heart-breaking in places, Diamonds and Cole grabbed my attention from the very beginning and held on to it until the very end.

I love how Cole is described on the series page on Goodreads:

The Cole Sage series brings to life a new kind of hero. Short on vices, long on compassion and dedication to a strong sense of making things right. As a journalist he writes with conviction and purpose. As a friend he is not afraid to bend the law a bit to help and protect those he loves.

As the story unfolds, we get to learn almost everything about Cole Sage from the memories that are stirred by events along the way.  And there are a lot of them.  If you don’t like this particular way of introducing background information, you might have a hard time with this book.  I actually enjoyed them.  I thought they were both interesting and entertaining and provided varied insights into Cole’s character and history.

Cole is a fascinating character.  He is a product of his past mistakes and choices; it is these, rather than his successes and triumphs that have shaped him into the man we see in the story.  Ellie’s character was sensitively – and beautifully – written.

I find it quite difficult to place this story on my bookshelf.  More of a thriller or suspense read, maybe, than a mystery, ultimately, Diamonds and Cole is a story of redemption, and of righting mistakes.  But it has other elements too; romance, drama, danger, crime, characters from all sorts of backgrounds, with all sorts of motives for their action and behaviour.

This was a great first book in a series.  It was well-written and well-thought-out.  The characters and locations all came across as realistic.  Some of the plot twists you can guess before they happen, but it was still a very good read, and I like Cole very much.

I really enjoyed this story, and am interested in seeing where the next book, Cellar Full Of Cole, leads.  It has been added to my TBR list.

Rating