*This review was read and written honestly and voluntarily. Possible spoilers ahead.

What would you do if you found treasure? 

Sam Thibeau is about to find out when he comes across rare jewels in the community he is the newest member of. But finding these rare treasures comes at a price. 

Will Sam pay it? Find out in Mark Lavine’s newest crime fiction novel, Windekind.

About Windekind

After losing his wife, Sam and his son Harry move to a new community in Vermont called Windekind. After one of the community members mysteriously dies digging trenches in his tractor, Sam discovers something that will change his financial fate forever.

But as he makes his discovery and uses it to his advantage, it seems there are others also pursuing his newfound treasures.

Sam is now caught in unprecedented dangers he’ll need help getting out of. Perhaps a newfound love with the head detective investigating the mysterious death can be used to his benefit.

Kelly’s Honest Review

A detailed story that will keep you guessing.

There were so many strange pieces of this novel’s puzzle that had me reading on to see what happened next. Sam really got himself twisted into a unique situation.

All that said, Sam was not really a character I could relate to enough. At times, I found him to be a bit condescending to everyone around him. He didn’t really seem like someone who struggled a lot, and I didn’t find myself rooting for him or anything he was doing. 

I expected to see more of Sam’s struggles, which would make me feel justified in his actions, which were very hasty and not well-thought-out at times. I would’ve liked to read more about what his financial hardships were so that when he is plucking diamonds from the dirt, I would be rooting for him to do so.

The story as a whole painted some very beautiful and detailed scenes and landscapes, but they were so drawn out I felt it put the story and the character developments at a disadvantage. I would’ve liked to see more interactions between Sam and the other characters to see who he was as a person and who these other characters were as well.

For example, there wasn’t enough of a relationship, build-up of tension, or dialogue with Cindy to make their instant love believable. And I didn’t feel any closeness between Sam and Sarah that would leave me devastated after her incident. It was also odd to see Cindy so easily invite Sam—a civilian—into the investigation with very little question. 

Windekind would be a lot stronger if the internal dialogue and explanation of what was happening were said through dialogue. That way, it doesn’t feel like an offloading of information on the reader at all times.

This is the first book in a series, so there will be more developments to Sam’s story, but for now, the ending was clean—almost too clean—leaving me a bit skeptical of what is about to come next.

Book Cover Rating

At first, the diamonds dropping through a forest seemed a bit clunky, and it’s not something I would pick up in a bookstore. However, I liked how the author dropped hints about what would happen in Windekind. The font and its placement also makes it difficult to read, and the review on the front draws too much attention from the image here. 

This book could benefit from a good cover designer’s assistance so those individual elements come together in ways that are attractive to a potential reader.

I imagined violet glinting diamonds being buried in the dirt with the Windekind community looming in the background and a much more “crime” oriented font that indicates something mysterious is going on.

Overall Score: C+

Other Publishing Information

• Date Published: 02/01/2023
• Self-Published
• ISBN: 979-8-218-11015-4-51499
• Crime Fiction
• Book 1 in a series

More from the Mark Lavine

Mark Lavine is the author of four novels. He lives in the mountains of Vermont with his wife and daughter.