The author set the hook in the opening pages of Graveyard Promises and continues to reel the reader in with Broken Choices. There are good and bad men here, and Abell understands both equally well. The characters are unique, and the relationships multilayered, but the writer pulls them together to weave a wonderful story. The mystery gets deeper with the turn of every page. I do not know where the narrator is taking us, but I invite you to join me on the ride.—David Major, aficionado of mysteries woven into well told stories.
Ken R. Abell is at his best when delving into the murky depths of his character’s psychological make-ups, and these talents are on full display in his latest novel Broken Choices. Each individual’s decisions carry far reaching ramifications to drive the narrative. Tensions build to cliffhanging suspense, climaxing in terrible yet inevitable consequences for some. The fallout of grief and shame reverberates with brutal honesty. Throughout, and above all, Abell makes you feel the humanity, however flawed, of every person who populates these pages.—William D. Hastings, author of Behind Prison Walls and Candy & Blood.
Broken Choices, the second installment of The Beadle Files, begins in the midst of bad omens on the high desert of New Mexico, then weaves its hard-edged suspense to the final page. For several members of the ensemble cast, both physical and supernatural 
threats lurk in the shadows as a dark man masquerading as a crazy-eyed scarecrow invades their consciousness.
Storylines take the reader to Rooster’s Barnyard on the southern outskirts of Denver, where murder precipitates a change in management; to the musty basement of a building where cans of gasoline and peculiar bundles are strategically placed by a man in black; to an unemployed nurse who is guilt-ridden and tormented by menacing nightmares; to a seasoned policeman upchucking the contents of his stomach at a crime scene.
Boss Hawkins, who has thoroughly exasperated Mandy Kilmer, is the catalyst for trauma that strikes close to home. Criminal powerbrokers initiate a scheme to neutralize, or quite possibly, terminate the Pinkerton man’s crusade against them. Lifelong allies come alongside Hawkins, which puts into motion preparations that culminate in dramatic violence.
In the aftermath, LC Beadle utters thoughts that tie the soul testing adversity into a thorny Gordian knot: “Killing someone is a broken choice, but these circumstances were precarious at best. There was no other way for the quandary to be resolved.”
Broken Choices can be purchased at WIPF & STOCK or AMAZON.
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