What do you get when you have an environmentalist possibly on the take, federal agents authorized to commit murder, a mob widow who may know something, but can’t remember or even say it because of a stroke? Add to this unusual mix, health care scams, crooked politics and a rehab center nicknamed Hell in the Woods. Of course, the only place all this craziness could happen is in Florida. The only person who could pen it is Michael Berres in his latest thriller, Final Stroke.

St. Mel in the Woods is a rehabilitation center for stroke victims, but maybe it is more than that because the victims don’t really seem to get better. Take Marjorie Gianetti, the widow of a known mobster. She’s unable to focus her thoughts and speak appropriately due to a right brain stroke. That’s a shame because there is something she is supposed to remember. Maybe that is why she keeps having so many visitors she has problems recognizing. Should she know them? What do they want? Will they go away, the nice smiling young men, if she gives them what they want? Somewhere in the back of her mind is the feeling of danger, but Marjorie can’t remember why.

Steve Babe wonders how he ended up in St. Mel's. How did he have a stroke? He’s not old enough to have a stroke. Sure, he’s a hard-working detective who eats bad food. Something isn’t right about his stroke, but it is hard to tell anyone when he can’t talk. But he can still think and something isn’t right, not at all. At least, his wife believes him. The bad news is she has a tendency to go off half-cocked. Not good, but not anything a stroke victim who can’t communicate can really prevent.

Among the cotton heads populating the Naples piers, two aging agents, Hanley and Valdez, contemplate their mission, which seems to be one of waiting. As US agents, they’re the good guys, right? It all depends on your definition of good and what the government wants to cover up. Hanley just wants to make it to retirement. This particular case with St. Mel's is not only causing him acid reflux, but is giving him doubts about making it to sixty-five.

Final Stroke is an amazingly detailed novel that delves into the minds of the stroke victims while exploring those who would exploit the victims and families for profit. Add to that people who would deliberately cause strokes as a way of incapacitating a threat. It is actually bogged down by too much setting, too much description and too many zany characters.

Final Stroke is a good read, not a great read. It works too hard to be similar to a famous Floridian writer’s style. I would probably save my time and read something by the original-crazy-people-and-crooked-politicians-in-Florida writer, than accept a copy.

Reviewed by Morgan Wyatt
© February 2007