ISBN: 978-1-4834-3268-7
Pages – 282
Review by Patricia Gallagher
I spent about two evenings reading this book which makes it good for overseas travelers for a half read going and the other half returning!
The Iguana Project is a novel about a wealthy family of lawyers. Patrick Bradaigh loses his beautiful wife Colleen in the first chapter, brutally murdered by the mafia. His identical twin adult sons Nick married to Nicole, with two teenagers Nikki and Josh, is serious and successful, Andy, a swinging bachelor. Both are attorneys in their fathers firm.
Patrick brings his two sons together to expose them to the truth about his past. He had been involved with Mafia don Giovanni Leggiano to get out of a tax evasion and many illegal transactions including jury tampering. Patrick explained to his sons that he was young and needed money to build up the law firm and restore the magnificent mansion he lives in.
A close friend of Patrick’s, Judge Lyons has monthly elaborate dinners, consuming copious amounts of scotch, expensive wines and fine cigars. The family goes on lavish trips once a year as a group, including Andy’s latest conquest. This infuriates his sister-in-law Nicole. A trip to the Galapagos Islands connects Patrick with Dr. Vandermere and her daughter Claire. The doctor is doing research on iguanas for a NASA project to enable astronauts to be put into a suspended sleep mode for long trips into outer space.
Nick and Nicole’s teenage daughter is involved in an kidnapping attempt. The escape is is very clever with its way to freedom.
Patrick and the Judge develop an elaborate plan to dispose of hardened criminals with sentences and sitting on death row. They involve a Senator drawing him in by the promise of huge tax savings on prison expenses. Everything goes terribly wrong in the end.
About two/thirds of the way through The Iguana Project the plot twists and turns for more adventure and plans to use NASA Space X project, kidnappings, murders and marriages all add to the unusual ending of this book.
Author Dale Arden
The spelling errors are a bit distracting to the reader and hopefully in future editions the manuscript will be tightly proofed.