Tag: 4 Stars Page 33 of 88

Persons of Interest (Audiobook) by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson: DC Smith’s Tie to a Murder Victim Leads to a different Twisty Case

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On January 4, 2021

In Audiobook, DC Smith & Kings Lake, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Time’s gotten away from me on this one, been trying to get it done since August and keep getting distracted. But…I won’t let myself listen to the next one until I get this posted. So…

Persons of Interest

Persons of Interest

by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator)
Series: A DC Smith Investigation, #4

Unabridged Audiobook, 10 hrsl, 30 min.
Tantor Audio, 2017

Read: August 14-18, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

Allen wrote a short email of his own to Detective Inspector Reeve. The first version included the phrase, “Tell Smith to carry on as normal.” Then he had second thoughts and deleted that, telling Smith to carry on as normal might not be wise, because “normal” for Smith was not the same as it was for other people. [guessing on punctuation, etc.]

What’s Persons of Interest About?

DC Smith is called to a nearby prison to answer some questions. It appears that a murdered prisoner had a connection to Smith. Smith has never had anything to do with this man. Oh? Then why does he have your phone number? This is technically true, but it hasn’t been Smith’s number since the first book in the series. DC’s written off pretty quickly as a suspect (thankfully! I’ve made it clear that I just don’t like those stories), but he is curious about the man having his number.

But he can’t focus on that—the case belongs to a different jurisdiction, in the first place. In the second place, there’s a major new drugs task force temporarily in Kings Lake and he needs to focus on the new initiative. DC is enough of a cynic to have little use for it, seeing it as a PR stunt more than anything else.

Sadly, because of this task force, Smith and his team realize that something has happened to the drug trade in Kings Lake recently, power has shifted and the old players aren’t in the game anymore, or are playing a diminished role. So who’s running the show now, and how did this happen without any of the police aware?

Oh, and there is that nagging curiosity in the back of his mind about the murdered prisoner.

The On-Going Arcs

I really appreciated the way that Smith is still dealing with the, er, shortcuts he took to make sure he passed his physical exam. It was semi-comedic in the previous book, but that’s over and now DC is paying for it.

The new team member is becoming part of the crew but there’s still some room to grow—which is how it should be. There are some other internal moves, and potential moves, even some cooperation where I wouldn’t have expected it. I’m looking forward to seeing how it all resolves. I’m being vague, but it’s hard not to be without spilling details.

The story involving DC’s True Crime Writer friend was really scaled back, and I kept wondering if it was going to come into play more in this book. It didn’t, which I assume means that it’ll play a big role in Book 5. Which works for me. It’s not my favorite part of any of these books, but I’m really curious about how it’s going to play out.

Jackson’s Narration

Everything I’ve said before still holds. The perfect combination of text and narrator, protagonist and portrayer.

That’s it, that’s all I can say.

So, what did I think about Persons of Interest?

The reason that it’s taken me months to post about this book is that I don’t know what else to say about this series. I think that there are a couple of more compelling police procedural series out there, but I can only handle so much of them at one time. It feels like I could listen to this series on a loop and be perfectly content for a few weeks.

I love the cast, I love the way Smith’s mind works, I love his quiet little humor (he reminds me of a more realistic Francis Xavier Flynn making jokes that only he will understand or appreciate), I really like the cases this team works, and Jackson’s narration puts it over the top.

I’m not 100% convinced that this case was as compelling as the previous three, but the way Grainger tells the story makes up for that. I can’t wait to get back to Kings Lake Central and see what they get up to next.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Cooking for Cannibals by Rich Leder: An Ex-Con turned Cook, Experimental Drugs, Reverse Aging and a Gerontologist make for a Very Strange Crime Novel

By

On December 23, 2020

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Cooking for Cannibals

Cooking for Cannibals

by Rich Leder

eARC, 371 pg.
Laugh Riot Press, 2021

Read: December 15-17, 2020

Don’t Suspend Your Disbelief, Throw it into a Small, Locked Room Somewhere

The core premise of this book is hogwash. Scientifically impossible. Accept that and move on. Leder doesn’t try to dress it up in pseudo-scientific jargon or explanations, he just says this impossible-to-believe thing happened. The characters only believe it because of what’s in front of their eyes and make no attempt to explain it to each other, either. So pretend the universe works the way he needs it to for this story, and you can have a lot of fun.

If you can’t do that, don’t even bother picking it up. Sure, go ahead and buy it, Leder could use the sale, but don’t bother reading the book.

What’s Cooking for Cannibals About?

It’s about what happens when an ex-con gets his big break, a behavioral gerontologist who prefers rats to people takes a dramatic step, and a group of seniors embrace a second chance.

Carrie

Carrie is a behavioral gerontologist who’s working at a secret pharmaceutical laboratory coming up with a medication to combat the effects of aging. The results are phenomenal. Unbelievable—it actually appears to reverse the aging process to a degree. A significant degree.

On the weekends, Carrie works for the Copacabana, a “low rent rest home,” where her mother lives, and has grown close to a number of the residents. She can’t help but want to help them and steals the medication from the lab one night.

This sets almost everything else in motion.

Jimmy

Jimmy’s done time a couple of times—assault, burglary, that kind of thing. As a result of this, he can’t get a job unless he lies about his background. As soon as the truth comes out, he loses the job. While he’s trying to go straight, Jimmy can’t go for more than a few weeks without having to start over again, losing jobs and places he rents. He’s a “rockstar butcher” but wants to cook. He just can’t get the chance.

After his most recent dismissal/eviction, he’s given a tip about a job—there’s a retirement home in need of a cook, they provide room and board, in addition to a paycheck. This is everything he needs, if he can get the job. Which is where he meets Carrie, becomes smitten with her, and sees what happens to the residents there when they start using that medication.

Sadly, his new parole officer is determined to find him in violation of his parole for being fired/evicted and will send him back to prison. Unless, of course, Jimmy starts paying him a weekly bribe.

The Copa Crew

Carrie’s mother and her friends are the ones who make the decision to hire Jimmy after he wows them with his sample meals. And instantly, the reader enjoys them—there’s a great, familial interaction between them and it’s just charming. Once they start taking this medication? Well, they become even more entertaining.

The Fixer and the Cleaner

You can absolutely make the case that Carrie and Jimmy are their own antagonists (with some help from the Copa Crew), they’re just not cut out for this kind of thing. But formally, I guess we have to give that credit to the two bodies that funded the pharmaceutical experiments, as represented by the Fixer and the Cleaner, both in LA to make sure that no one finds out about the drug or that their employers had anything to do with any secret drug research.

The Fixer is a suave, calm, and collected Latino who enjoys creative ways of torture. The Cleaner is a Russian in love with Hollywood and all things American film (like poorly educated, heavily accented Chili Palmer), but he loves fire and burning things/people even more. Neither is the kind of guy you want to draw the attention of. Sadly, Carrie does (and because of that, so does Jimmy)

So these two come to LA to find the stolen pills, recover them, eliminate anyone who knows anything about the pills, and any other trace of them—records, people who’ve used or developed them, etc. (without realizing the other is doing the same). It’s their entrance into the story that gets everything really rolling. The question is simply, who will be alive after they’re done?

And sure, the California Legal System was also out there, looking into Jimmy and his activities. But comparatively speaking, that’s a pretty low worry.

Lecter-ish, but with a Sense of Humor

So, Cannibalism is in the title for a reason. Technically, yeah, there’s some cannibalism. But it’s not that anyone wants to eat humans, it’s just a side effect of the drug that the users become very hungry, and are not that selective where their meat comes from.

If it also turns out that eating human remains cleans up other problems by eradicating evidence? Well, that’s just a bonus.

It’s not grizzly, it’s not detailed—it’s also not justified. I think everyone involved is disgusted on some level. It’s simply they’re hungry and they have access to some well-cooked human remains.

The Two Styles of Rich Leder

This is the third novel I’ve posted about by Leder, and he seems to write two different types of books. There’s the McCall & Company series, which is a fairly straight-forward series about a would-be actress who takes over her father’s PI business after his death. It’s light fun in the vein of Stephanie Plum, but a little less wacky. I read the first book, and have intended to read the rest (my mother has read at least one, probably more, of the rest). Then there’s Let There Be Linda, a book I described as “strange, bloody, a little violent, and impossible to explain in a way that does it justice.” Which could really be said about this book, too.

It’s hard to see both of these coming from the same source. I don’t know if one’s necessarily superior to the other, but one’s a lot more marketable than the other, for sure. I’m not sure there’s a lot of overlap in the audiences for both, too. Linda and Cooking for Cannibals are marked by black comedy, one unbelievable occurrence being accepted as fact, and stories that are nigh-impossible to predict.

I do think this is largely more successful, and only slightly less imaginative, than Linda. Leder has a tighter focus on the narrative here, and it just makes the whole thing more compelling and interesting.

So, what did I think about Cooking for Cannibals?

Seriously, if you’re going to read one black comedy about anthropophagites this year, make it Cooking for Cannibals. As I wrote that, it occurred to me that late last year, I read another black comedy about anthropophagites. This is a pretty odd trend, but I can assure you that neither of them has had an impact on my diet.

There’s a lot of funny stuff in this novel. There are also few things with a pretty high “ick factor.” But what comes through most strongly? There’s a sweetness to the way that Jimmy, Carrie, and the Copa Crew interact. The relationship that springs up between Jimmy and Carrie is the focus, but there’s a nice connection between Jimmy and the people who give him his chance to cook (and they love his food), Carrie and her mother find another layer to their relationship in these pages, and so on. Sure the sweetness is buried underneath torture, killing, fire, rats, threats, and more—but it’s there.

The major note I had about the writing was that it felt like the concluding chapter ends 1-4 paragraphs too early. At least at the moment. But honestly, it’s the perfect conclusion to this story as it is. I just had to think about it for a couple of minutes first.

If you’re willing to give this kind of thing a shot, you’re going to have a pretty good time. Leder can pull off the outlandish ideas in a piece of Crime Fiction and it’s rewarding to see him do it.

If you read what I said, and you’re on the fence? You should probably avoid it.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the author in exchange for this post and my honest opinion. While I appreciate it, my opinions are my own.

4 Stars

Amari and the Night Brothers by B. B. Alston: Look Out World, There’s a New Magician on the Loose!

By

On December 11, 2020

In Fiction, Urban Fantasy, YA/MG/Children's Books

Amari and the Night Brothers

Amari and the Night Brothers

by B. B. Alston
Series: Supernatural Investigations, Volume Number 1

eARC, 384 pg.
Egmont Books, 2021

Read: December 7-9, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Amari and the Night Brothers About?

Amari is a thirteen-year-old girl from Atlanta’s inner-city, attending a private school on scholarship, and is in trouble when we meet her. She’s been antagonized (probably bullied, honestly) by some rich girls from her school and struck back. She’s now facing discipline—up to and including loss of her scholarship. The principal ties this behavior to her brother’s recent disappearance/presumed death, she’s been “acting out” since then.

While reeling from this, Amari receives a delivery from her brother—cutting the details, it’s an invitation to the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. The invitation opens her eyes (literally) to the hidden magickal world around her. She can join the Bureau via a summer program (as her brother, Quinton, did) and if she passes some tests, she can become a junior member. She sees this as her best/only chance to find out what happened to Quinton—and hopefully, find him alive.

But also, it’s magick. How could she not want to be part of it?

One of the first steps involves finding her secret talent—where she learns that she has rare and illegal abilities. Determined to stay in the Bureau to find Quinton—and to show that just because she’s born with abilities that remind everyone of the worst people in the supernatural world’s history, it doesn’t mean she’ll be as evil.

It’s hard to make friends—hard not to be ostracized by everyone—because of her abilities, and she faces outright prejudice. But she does make an ally or two among the other supernatural youths, and a few among the adults overseeing the program*. Not only does Amari work to pass her tests to remain in the Bureau, she and her allies look into Quinton’s disappearance.

* I really don’t have the time to get into it, but I really liked the adults in this book (with the exception of two that you’re clearly not supposed to like)

The Clincher

There are many reasons to read this, many reasons you’ll enjoy it. More than I have time to enumerate, more than you want to spend time reading. So I’ll just give you one word that should convince you: weredragon.

Were…@#$%&!…dragon.

I love this idea. I don’t know why we don’t have a half-dozen series about them in UF. Elsie, the weredragon in question, would be a character I love no matter her special ability/species/whatever. She’s a fun, vibrant, supportive, smart character, and combining those qualities with the idea of a human shifting into a dragon? You’ve got a fan in me.

The Inevitable Comparisons

It’s impossible to read this book and not think of a certain other MG series that rhymes with Larry Cotter. I think Amari and the Night Brothers comes off pretty well in such a comparison—I’m not saying it’s superior (or inferior), but it holds its own.

But honestly? I think this is closer to a Percy Jackson kind of thing (just without the mythological basis), and Alston’s style and voice are closer to Riordan’s.

I’d also throw in a comparison to Will Hill’s Department 19 books, but few of my readers will recognize it—and it’s for an older audience and is more bloody. But it’s one of those things that keeps coming to mind as I read Amari’s adventure.

I’m not suggesting that Alston’s just giving us an “inner city” version of Percy Jackson, etc. There are just things about Amari and the Night Brothers that remind me of the others, (the way that the Iron Druid Chronicles reminds readers of The Dresden Files, for example). The novel’s themes and particulars of the fantasy worlds will vary, but the overall feel and style of the novel will invite comparison to Barry Totter, Percy, and similar works.

The Real World

In the background of all the fantastic things going on in Amari’s life—all the unbelievable things she’s being introduced to, the incredible people and creatures she’s encountering—there’s the real world, and not an easy part of it. She lives in the inner city of Georgia with her mother working horrible shifts at a local hospital struggling to make ends meet. Her father has abandoned the family.

The police assume her brother’s disappearance has something to do with him being a criminal—he’s not missing, he’s off doing something he doesn’t want his mother to know about. Because that’s what young men in this neighborhood do. As infuriating as that prejudice expressed is, there’s someone in the neighborhood who is falling into that lifestyle. Quinton had been tutoring him, but now he has no one helping him—but Amari tries once she realizes what’s going on with Jayden. This is a storyline that we follow throughout the book, and it might be the most important and rewarding one.

Both in Amari’s school and even at the Bureau, she has to deal with privilege—people who were born into the right families, people who aren’t like her. Because of things she has no control over, no input into, simply accident of birth, there are those who don’t want her in the Bureau, don’t want her pursuing her goals—but she doesn’t back down. Never fear, the book doesn’t preach, it doesn’t moralize. It simply shows the challenges Amari has to deal with—and the challenges so many others don’t—and lets the reader draw their own conclusions.

Grit and Smarts

Amari is practically the embodiment of Angela Duckworth’s concept of grit. I made a few notes like that while reading, making Amari the kind of protagonist you can really get behind.

Duckworth’s website defines grit as:

Grit is passion and perseverance for long-term goals…
Grit isn’t talent. Grit isn’t luck. Grit isn’t how intensely, for the moment, you want something.
Instead, grit is about having what some researchers call an”ultimate concern”–a goal you care about so much that it organizes and gives meaning to almost everything you do. And grit is holding steadfast to that goal. Even when you fall down. Even when you screw up. Even when progress toward that goal is halting or slow.
Talent and luck matter to success. But talent and luck are no guarantee of grit. And in the very long run, I think grit may matter as least as much, if not more.

Replace the word “talent” above with “magick” and you’ve got Amari.

The book is also a celebration of thinking. Quinton, Elsie (the weredragon), and Amari are smart. They’re bookish. They’re problem solvers. Sure Amari has magical abilities, but before she uses magic, she thinks through a situation and addresses it with her mind. Amari and Elsie study, they plan. There’s one point where Amari remembers the book and page number where she learned a fact that proved vital to one challenge. Her remembering that page number just made me happy.

Elsie’s a tinkerer, even before she gets her magical enhancement, she’s inventing things, making things. Amari talks about how many things are in the library that she wants to read about, learn about that have nothing to do with her goals. Give me characters like this any day.

So, what did I think about Amari and the Night Brothers?

This was just so much fun. Even when things are looking dire for poor Amari (or anyone else), there is an ineffable sense of awe and hope to the book. That just magnified all the good from above (and helped me brush off the couple of minor reservations I had).

Is this one to give to the MG reader in your life? Yes. Is this one to read yourself if you like the occasional (or not-so-occasional) MG novel? Absolutely. I’m already planning on getting the sequels, and expect just about everyone who reads this novel will too.

4 Stars
My thanks to The Write Reads for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials (including the novel from Egmont Publishing via Netgalley) they provided.

Last Stand in Lychford by Paul Cornell: A Tense, Taut Conclusion to this Series (that I really don’t want to see conclude)

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On December 1, 2020

In Fiction, Paul Cornell, Urban Fantasy

Last Stand in Lychford

Last Stand in Lychford

by Paul Cornell
Series: Witches of Lychford, #5

Kindle Edition, 192 pg.
Tor, 2020

Read: November 24, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Last Stand in Lychford About?

When I talked about the last book, The Lights Go Out in Lychford, I said:

The conclusion was simply fantastic and heart-wrenching—with a last line that will drive you to the online bookstore of your choice to try to order the conclusion immediately.

And it picks up right from that point—Lychford has seen plenty of trouble and conflict the last few years, but this time, it’s for all the marbles.

It’s not supposed to be a final showdown between other-worldly forces and the defenders of the town. It’s supposed to be some of the other-worldly forces just rolling into town, wiping out humanity in Lychford before moving out to the rest of the planet. But the crafty, wily, and stubborn trio that we’ve been following for the past few years have a thing or two to say about that. They may not be fully ready for what’s coming their way, but that’s not going to stop them—and as usual, we see that they’re pretty good at adapting to whatever circumstances they find themselves in.

The New Characters

What better time than the last volume of a series to introduce three major characters? (well, maybe 2 major and one minor—no pun intended). We meet both a new fairy and a new mortal (and her daughter) who both play significant roles in the final confrontation.

The fairy’s quite possibly the most helpful representative of the species we’ve encountered, as far as Autumn and Lizzie are concerned. He’s pretty entertaining as far as the reader is concerned. So that’s a win all around.

The human, Zoya, is a newish resident of Lychford—struggling to keep her and her young daughter afloat. She’s fully aware that strange things happened in town a few weeks before we meet her, but she doesn’t understand it—and is in no rush to understand. All she cares about is finding rent money so she and Jas aren’t evicted. I can’t get into her role in things but Zoya’s background, her personality, and circumstances make her a pleasant and important addition to this world and I’m glad we got to see her.

I don’t have much to say about Jas, but I enjoyed her. She was a fun burst of innocence in grim circumstances.

Autumn and Lizzie

Naturally, the most important characters to the book are our returning protagonists. Lizzie’s always been my favorite character, the one I could relate to most in this series. But…there’s a lot of what she does in this installment that just annoyed me, it didn’t feel like the same character to me (it’s likely just my mood at the time). At the same time, I connected more with Autumn here than I’m used to.

Overall, though, I appreciated their character arcs (contained in this book and over the series, both). These two women—rebuilding a friendship, learning about a whole new (to them) world of magic and strangeness and fantastical beings—are not really de rigueur in Urban Fantasy. I enjoyed them for their novelty, but more than that, I thought they were solid, well-rounded, believable characters that were just a lot of fun to spend time with.

You Might Want to Read this Next to an Open Window

There’s a claustrophobic feel to a lot of this book as Lychford is cut off from the rest of the world, and it gets worse as the book goes on. But there’s one scene in particular where Autumn is micrometers (maybe nanometers) away from probable doom. Cornell nailed that scene in a visceral way.

So, what did I think about Last Stand in Lychford?

This was exactly the conclusion this series needed. Cornell nailed the landing—teaching us a lot about the world (much of which we’d guessed, but now we know) and surprising readers the way things wrap up, while making it all feel inevitable and right. All along, this has felt like the most real, the most possible Urban Fantasy series—and even as cataclysmic events unfold, Cornell somehow makes it feel a whole lot more believable than any UF I can think of.*

* I think I said something similar about Amber Benson’s Witches Echo Park series—and the two series have a similar feel, but I think Cornell does a slightly better job of it.

This series about a tiny English town standing between two worlds, as humanity’s (unwitting) defense against beings from other worlds, other realities has really been a blast. I heartily encourage you to go back to Witches of Lychford and dive into this series.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

The Man in Milan by Vito Racanelli: A Hunt for the Truth on the Streets of New York and Milan

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On November 20, 2020

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

The Man in Milan

The Man in Milan

by Vito Racanelli

eARC, 336pg.
Polis Books, 2020

Read: November 9-14, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s The Man in Milan About?

NYPD detective Rossi is called to the scene of a homicide. It looks like a mugging gone bad, but there’s something wrong with the scene that Rossi can’t accept the first impression. Soon, he and his partner discover that this man is attached to the Italian embassy (although it’s initially denied). The deeper they get into the investigation, the murkier things get and the deadlier things get, too.

While they try to deny it, try to avoid the conclusion, the detectives have to admit that the evidence is pointing to a solution in Italy. They’re able to follow the evidence to the victim’s homeland, leading to an explosive conclusion.

The Police

Probably the strongest part of this book—and it’s key to the success of a police procedural are the characters—particularly the police characters*. From practically the instant we meet Detectives Paul Rossi and Hamilton P. Turner, I felt I knew them. Racanelli nailed these characters. They’re at once characters we’ve seen before, and know well—but made them feel fresh.

* There are a few other strong characters that I don’t have the space to talk about, for example: a newspaper journalist who’s almost as strong and developed as Rossi and Turner, that we don’t get quite enough of; and Rossi’s ex-wife and daughter, who I’d like to see again, too.

Rossi is divorced, in AA, more than a little jaded, but driven by the work that’s the only thing he has left in the world aside from the daughter he doesn’t get to see as often as he wants. He has strong ties to his Italian heritage—can speak and read it fluently (which comes in handy)—without being a stereotype. He has a medical condition that crops up to make life inconvenient, if there’s a sequel or two in the future, I’d like to learn more about this.

Turner is a solid cop, but he has ambitions beyond the NYPD, he wants to get into city politics—ultimately that mayor-ship. And he’s open about it. But more, he’s a poet, who regularly presents at events throughout the city, he can’t seem to go anywhere without finding a woman to seduce, dresses better than most detectives (shades of Connelly’s Jerry Edgar?), and has been described as a “black beatnik.” Some authors would take these traits and give us a character that’s just a collection of quirks, but Racanelli uses them to turn Turner into a well-rounded character.

The deceased’s sister, Tenente Laura Muro, is a policewoman from Italy. She arrives to claim the body and return it to be buried. But she’s also interested in helping the investigation and brings a knowledge of both Muro as a person, his past and his home that prove invaluable to Rossi and Turner. That she’s attractive and intelligent just makes her presence all the more welcome to the partners.

Rossi and Turner have a Lieutenant who has no interest in the case until it becomes something the mayor is taking an interest in, and actually wants them to drop it almost immediately. He’s the kind of petty bureaucrat that you hope doesn’t exist outside fictional police departments (but sure seem to show up in all sorts of police procedurals). He’s a solid character, but not one you’ll enjoy (and aren’t supposed to).

What Really Worked

The initial chapters following Rossi and Turner as they look into Muro’s death, talking to the Italian ambassador, Muro’s estranged wife and so on. Once others associated with Muro are killed, there’s a lot of political pressure put on them to make an arrest. Once it becomes clear that someone wants to add their deaths to the list, the external pressures to make an arrest outweigh all the politics.

When the evidence begins to point to an Italian group that seems more Urban Legend than reality, things take off plot-wise and the stakes get higher. Racanelli handles this skillfully, both the reticence of the detectives to follow the evidence and the way they come around when they have to.

What Wasn’t as Strong

Once it became clear to me that the case was going to take the detectives to Italy*, I worried a little about things. And sadly, those worries were valid. But maybe it’s just me.

* It’d been a few weeks since I read the pitch for the book, so I’d forgotten all of it.

Whether it’s Michael Connelly (Nine Dragons) or Neil Lancaster (Tom Novak series)—and probably other examples I can’t think of at the moment, anytime when you take police detectives and put them into a foreign context (especially when it becomes less police procedural and more international thriller), I think the book loses something. This one didn’t lose a lot, but I think it stumbled a little bit—Racanelli handled the switch in flavors as well as anyone, though, I want to stress that this is a me-thing, not a Racanelli-thing.

The Setting

There are plenty of reasons for this to be set in 2002 for the plot to work—beyond that, it’s a great setting for this kind of book. The characters can use cell phones and the internet, but smart phones aren’t ubiquitous and what characters can do with phones/internet is still limited enough that the detectives have to work for their information, not everything is captured on phones, and so on. It may have been a practical choice to set the book when he did, but the benefits make it a great choice.

So, what did I think about The Man in Milan?

From the voice, the style, the characters and the nature of the story—this is a solid, entertaining story. The persons responsible for the murder are dark and mysterious, but it’s not overplayed. The motive behind the (initial) killing, and its method make sense and are just chilling. The escalation in terms of violence and scale feels natural, it felt like this could be based on real events.

Racanelli’s take on Italian culture isn’t one that I think I’ve seen before and it’s one I’d like to learn more about, too.

The more action-thriller parts of the novel are as tense and compelling as you’d want, the procedural material is as good as you’ll find anywhere. The Man in Milan is a great way for Vito Racanelli to introduce himself to Crime Fiction readers, and I look forward to seeing what he produces next.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the author via Saichek Publicity in exchange for this post and my honest opinion—thanks to both for this.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Pub Day Repost: Rattlesnake Rodeo by Nick Kolakowski: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

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On October 26, 2020

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Nick Kolakowski

Rattlesnake Rodeo

Rattlesnake Rodeo

by Nick Kolakowski
Series: A Boise Longpig Hunting Club Noir, #2

eARC, 162 pg.
Down & Out Books, 2020

Read: September 8, 2020


In 2018, I read my first book by Nick Kolokowski, Boise Longpig Hunting Club, which is pretty much everything you think it is from the title. In the two years and change since then, I’ve read five other books by Kolokowski—well, six now. That alone should be an indication of what I think about his stuff.

What’s Rattlesnake Rodeo About?

This is the sequel to Boise Longpig Hunting Club, taking up minutes after it. Spoilerly talk about BLHC—bounty hunter, Jake; his sister, Frankie (a gun smuggler); and ex-wife/fiancé, Janine (who has nothing to do with criminals); are kidnapped by a group of super-wealthy people, and set loose in an Idaho forest while they’re being hunted. Jake and Frankie are a lot more resourceful than anyone expected—and Janine has depth that no one expected—and they end up killing all the hunters.

We rejoin them in this book headed back to Boise. They have a number of emotions and thoughts running through their minds at this time—as they should—the most prominent of them is: how are we going to get away with this? There’s no way that they didn’t leave all sorts of DNA, fingerprints and other sorts of evidence behind that’ll make forensic techs happy. And there will be scores of techs, investigators, agents and what have you at the crime scene—very rich, very important people died up there and someone is going to have to pay for that. Oh, and Frankie wants fries. You work up an appetite fighting for your life.

Karen

They quickly learn about one person who not only has links to the Longpig Hunters, evidence about Jake and Frankie’s involvement, and a reputation to make people quake in their boots. Like Prince, Madonna, or Hawk (to bring it back to crime fiction), she’s known by one name: Karen.

Quick aside: I wonder if in early drafts, she was called something like Margo or Helen, but given, well, all of 2020, Kolakowski decided to go back and change it. Or did he have enough foresight months ago to go with that?

Back to the book: Karen offers them a deal, they do one incredibly horrible task for her, or she ruins the lives and reputations of Jake, Frankie, and Janine. They have no choice…they have to find an Option C.

Gunfights, treachery, and (obviously) rattlesnakes ensue.

Frankie and Her Troops

In almost every novel I’d normally read, Frankie and her employees would be the targets of the protagonist, not their ally. But I’ve gotta say, for a bunch of gun-running criminals, benefiting from the miseries of others (and being a means to innocents being killed at the hands of their customers), they’re a lot of fun. There’s a fun sense of camaraderie and some good banter among them. They’re a pretty effective squad, too. Kolakowski could write a pretty entertaining series featuring these guys. And not just because they’re led by a man who always wears a rubber gorilla mask.

Which is fitting, considering how cool their boss is. Spenser has Hawk, Kenzie and Gennaro have Bubba, Elvis Cole has Joe Pike, Walt Longmire has Henry Standing Bear, Joe Pickett has Nate Romanowski, Sunny Randall has Spike, and Jake has Frankie. The “not-bound by the same laws and ethics that the series protagonist is” so that the protagonist can keep his/her nose clean and still get the job done. They’ll cut the corners, they’ll take and make the shots that no one else will, they’ll be the ones to use lethal force when their friend just can’t bring themselves to do it—and they won’t feel guilt (at least not enough to interfere with their ability to get things done).

Frankie is, as far as I know, the only female lethal sidekick, in crime fiction. Through grit, determination, skill, and panache—Frankie is what ultimately keeps her brother and sister-in-law breathing. It’s just fun to see a female in this role, particularly one that fits. I could never see Sunny Randall go toe-to-toe with some of the dudes she needs to without Spike (or Jesse, or Richie, or Richie’s family)—but I can see Frankie (like Lori Anderson or Charlie Fox) do it without blinking.

The Setting

I’ve talked a little about this in the other book, but it’s fun for me to see the region I’ve lived my whole life in depicted so well in these pages. I enjoy anyone finding a way to bring a crime novel to life outside of Boston, NYC, New Jersey, Chicago, Miami or LA—Elmore Leonard, Jason Miller, Craig Johnson, C. J. Box, Darynda Jones, and G. M. Ford have/continue to do a good job of that, but there needs to be more*. Kolakowski brings my corner of the world into that fold (Jayne Faith did it in Urban Fantasy, and Wesley Chu set a Tao book near where the climax of this novel took place). It’s nice not having to use my imagination much when picturing a scene, at the same time—if I’d never been anywhere near this place, Kolakowski depicts it well enough that someone from Michigan, Mississippi, or New Mexico would have no problem seeing what he’s going for.

* I don’t pretend that’s an exhaustive list, still feel free to add others I should get to know.

So, what did I think about Rattlesnake Rodeo?

You could feel the dread coming off of Jake and Frankie as they thought about the police and (probably) feds coming for them after surviving the last novel, you could feel their hatred (for Karen) and revulsion for their task for her, and you could sense the chaos, smell the smoke, and taste the air from the big scenes at the end of the novel. There are significant portions of this novel you experience as much as you read. You’ve gotta love that.

There was one death that totally caught me unprepared and left me stunned. The violence felt a little more grounded than the genre demands, but Kolakowski knows when to loosen the reins and let things go a little over the top. Which is just fun.

At the same time, there’s a great sense of enjoyment to this novel—to the characters, what they do, and how they go about it. It’s the kind of action novel that gets your fists pumping as much as anything else.

Just the fact that the novel starts with the trio worried about all the evidence they left behind made this a winner—how many characters in novels worry about that sort of thing? Add in the characters—from the oddity of Monkey Man, to the implausibly competent Frankie, to the quiet strength of Janine, to the terror that is Karen—and the great balance of tones, and you’ll see why Kolakowski is my favorite US indie Crime Novelist.

I strongly recommend Rattlesnake Rodeo, whether or not you read BLHC first, it’s a fun ride.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from the author in exchange for this post and my honest opinion, I appreciate the opportunity.

4 Stars

Pub Day Repost: Kitty’s Mix-Tape by Carrie Vaughn: One More Trip to Kitty’s World in this Collection

By

On October 16, 2020

In Carrie Vaughn, Fiction, Kitty Norville, Urban Fantasy

Kitty's Mix-Tape

Kitty’s Mix-Tape

by Carrie Vaughn
Series: Kitty Norville

eARC, 288 pg.
Tachyon Publications, 2020

Read: September 12-14, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Kitty’s Mix-Tape?

That’s an easy question: this is the second collection of short stories (previously published) set in the world of Kitty Norville, the werewolf turned talk radio star. We get a lot of stories featuring Kitty and/or her friends and allies (and one foe), and we get some stories that just happen to take place in the same reality even if they really don’t have any cross-over with the series.

There’s an introduction by Emma Bull that by itself would make a great review of this book (and maybe the series). Really, writing anything else after reading Bull seems superfluous.

Kitty & the Gang

I’m going to have a hard time keeping myself from talking too much about the stories featuring Kitty and her friends—Kitty and Ben going to her 10-year high school reunion was the perfect way to start off this book. Quick, fun, and a great way back into this world.

“It’s Still the Same Old Story,” could’ve fit into The Immortal Conquistador that I talked about a few months back—except it didn’t fit into the story arc of that one. But for those who wonder what Rick was up to in the early part of the twentieth century, this will give you a good idea. This is possibly my favorite thing focusing on Rick to date.

On the eve of their wedding in Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand Ben disappears off on his own for a while, Vaughn finally lets us know what he was up to at the time. I’d forgotten all about that until I read this story, but I remember wondering then (as I was supposed to) what he’d been up to—it’s nice to have that answered.

There was a dynamite story about Detective Jessi Harden of Denver PD investigating a murder with a supernatural angle that doesn’t involve any of the series regulars. This would be the basis of a great follow-up series if Vaughn was in the mood for something. Hardin tackling “woo woo” crimes (I think that’s what the New Orleans PD calls them in the Yellowrock books) would be compelling as all get out.

One more that I want to mention is called “Kitty Learns the Ropes.” In this story, Kitty meets a professional athlete who happens to be a werewolf. Does that give him an unfair advantage? Should he disclose his situation to the world? Can’t this guy who never asked to be supernatural just live is life?

I’m going on too long, so I’ll summarize a few other standouts: there’s a fun little story with Odysseus Grant, and some cute bits with Kitty and her pack dealing with the Super Blood Moon and the like, and a showdown with some Federal Agents.

Other Stories

There are some stories that aren’t about Kitty or her friends, too, but just take place in her universe. There are two that take place in Regency England, “The Island of Beasts” and “The Beaux Wilde.” I enjoyed them both, and it is interesting to see Vaughn try to put her werewolves in that world. I would eagerly read more stories or a novel about the characters in “The Beaux Wilde.”

There’s also a sequel to a story from her previous short story collection, Kitty’s Greatest Hits about a child of a selkie who grows up to be a Navy SEAL (what else could such a son be)? I liked that one, too, but it seemed to be missing a little something from the end. But I’m pretty sure it was supposed to feel that way.

The tale about Nazis attempting to use werewolves in the war didn’t do much for me—but I think that’s mostly a me thing. It was a good story, just not the sort of thing I think I’d seek out.

The Songs

Vaughn includes a list of songs that embody the various stories for her, which she did for the novels, too. I think if you consider this list as a track list for a mixtape, you’d end up with something that Rob Fleming (in any incarnation) would look upon with scorn. If you take them as pieces to go with the stories, it’s a lot of fun, and adds a nice little dimension to them.

I will admit that I didn’t listen to them as I read—I think it would work though. They’re also a good tool to use to ruminate on the stories a bit.

So, what did I think about Kitty’s Mix-Tape?

There wasn’t a dud in the bunch, which is rare for a short story compilation—sure, I liked the ones about Kitty and her friends best, because that’s what I came to the collection for. But I liked them all.

The back cover promises that this is “the final installment” of the series, but Vaugn talks about staying tuned because it’s great to have a pre-existing world to write stories in. If the blurb is right, I’m glad I got a little more time in this world, but I’m hoping that staying tuned will pay off.

This may not be a great introduction to the werewolf DJ named Kitty, but it might work as one just fine, it’s certainly a good tour of the world. But it’s definitely the kind of thing that Kitty’s readers should come for. It’s one of the best collections I’ve read this year—and maybe for a good chunk of last year, too. Give it a whirl.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Tachyon Publications via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Pub Day Repost: Silent Bite by David Rosenfelt: Andy Carpenter Does a Favor for a Friend and Ends Up Regretting It

By

On October 13, 2020

In Andy Carpenter, David Rosenfelt, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Silent Bite

Silent Bite

by David Rosenfelt
Series: Andy Carpenter, #22

eARC, 304 pg.
Minotaur Books, 2020

Read: September 16-18, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!


Wow. Andy Carpenter #22. That’s hard to believe. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I started reading these (I think back in the single digits). But all-in-all, it’s been a fun ride. How’s this one stack up?

What’s Silent Bite About?

When Andy and his family return from a holiday cruise (a novella describing that in more detail than we got here would quickly become a fan favorite, no doubt), he’s got a bunch of messages from Willie Miller. A friend, and former cellmate, of Willie’s has been arrested for murder. Both Willie and his friend, Tony Birch, want Andy to take the case and clear him. Andy wants nothing to do with a problematic looking case*, but Willie’s a friend—and Andy’s son, Ricky, has pointed out that Willie does stuff for Andy all the time. Also, Tony has a dog that’s miserable without him around.

* or any case, really.

The murder victim is one of the witnesses against Birch for the manslaughter charge that put him in prison with Willie years ago. At the trial, Tony threatened to kill him (and a few others) for turning on him, after years in a gang together. But upon his release from prison, years before this new murder, Tony had turned his life around—he owned and operated a fairly successful auto repair garage, and had no interest in criminal activity again. So why seek vengeance now?

And why be as utterly stupid with the murder weapon as the prosecution wants people to believe?

But then another witness against Tony in the original case turns up dead, and things start looking really bad for him. So it’s up to Andy and his team to save the day.

Zoey, the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever

I really don’t have much to say about Zoey, Tony’s dog, but I’ve never heard of her breed before—and I don’t feel too bad about that Andy hadn’t seen one before. If your day could use a little lift, take a minute or two to scroll through some pictures online. Cute dogs.*

* That’s a tautology, I realize.

The New Associate

In most of his cases, Andy Carpenter utilizes an associate to do the ugly detailed work, filing motions, looking up pertinent case law, and so on, while Andy goes around visiting people, investigating, getting saved from certain peril by Marcus Clerk, and being snarky and clever in court. He started with Kevin Randall, who owned a laundromat and gave legal advice to those who couldn’t afford it. He eventually moved on and Hike Lynch moved in—largely, I think because Hike is a more entertaining character than Kevin. Well, Hike isn’t around for this one and he suggests Eddie Dowd step in.

Eddie used to play for the Giants, but a knee injury ended that career, so he went to law school. He speaks almost entirely in sports phrases (spike the ball, put me in, pitch in, and so on). It’s fairly ridiculous, but when done right, it’s pretty funny. He’s a nice change from the Eeyore-like character that Hike had been. I’m not sure if he’ll be back, or if Hike will return—I’ll be glad to see him if he is, even if it seems like the joke about his figures of speech will get old. I have faith in Rosenfelt. I’d have thought that Hike’s extreme pessimism or Kevin’s hypochondria would.

So, what did I think about Silent Bite?

I thought the identity of the killer was pretty obvious, but Rosenfelt’s execution of the reveal and of keeping Andy from seeing the solution all along sold me. I can’t be more descriptive of that because I don’t want to tip anything. It was a great conclusion to a really solid legal thriller, that comes with all the canine affection, snappy dialogue, some clever courtroom action, and a solid plot. Pretty much what the doctor ordered.

Once we got The K Team this year, with Muzzled as well, I didn’t figure we’d have a Holiday Andy Carpenter book. Then when I saw this was coming, I worried it wouldn’t live up to the other Holiday books in this series. I kept being wrong about this book—we got it and it wasn’t a let-down. Rosenfelt managed to give us three strong novels in 2020 (hey, look, 2020 didn’t wind up in a disaster on one front!)—that right there, folks, is a sign of a professional.

Whether you’re new to the world of this would-be retired criminal defense lawyer and are in the mood for a witty and sharp legal thriller, or if you’re familiar with Andy and his associates—this will entertain you. You’d do well to give this a shot.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Rattlesnake Rodeo by Nick Kolakowski: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

By

On October 6, 2020

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Nick Kolakowski

Rattlesnake Rodeo

Rattlesnake Rodeo

by Nick Kolakowski
Series: A Boise Longpig Hunting Club Noir, #2

eARC, 162 pg.
Down & Out Books, 2020

Read: September 8, 2020


In 2018, I read my first book by Nick Kolokowski, Boise Longpig Hunting Club, which is pretty much everything you think it is from the title. In the two years and change since then, I’ve read five other books by Kolokowski—well, six now. That alone should be an indication of what I think about his stuff.

What’s Rattlesnake Rodeo About?

This is the sequel to Boise Longpig Hunting Club, taking up minutes after it. Spoilerly talk about BLHC—bounty hunter, Jake; his sister, Frankie (a gun smuggler); and ex-wife/fiancé, Janine (who has nothing to do with criminals); are kidnapped by a group of super-wealthy people, and set loose in an Idaho forest while they’re being hunted. Jake and Frankie are a lot more resourceful than anyone expected—and Janine has depth that no one expected—and they end up killing all the hunters.

We rejoin them in this book headed back to Boise. They have a number of emotions and thoughts running through their minds at this time—as they should—the most prominent of them is: how are we going to get away with this? There’s no way that they didn’t leave all sorts of DNA, fingerprints and other sorts of evidence behind that’ll make forensic techs happy. And there will be scores of techs, investigators, agents and what have you at the crime scene—very rich, very important people died up there and someone is going to have to pay for that. Oh, and Frankie wants fries. You work up an appetite fighting for your life.

Karen

They quickly learn about one person who not only has links to the Longpig Hunters, evidence about Jake and Frankie’s involvement, and a reputation to make people quake in their boots. Like Prince, Madonna, or Hawk (to bring it back to crime fiction), she’s known by one name: Karen.

Quick aside: I wonder if in early drafts, she was called something like Margo or Helen, but given, well, all of 2020, Kolakowski decided to go back and change it. Or did he have enough foresight months ago to go with that?

Back to the book: Karen offers them a deal, they do one incredibly horrible task for her, or she ruins the lives and reputations of Jake, Frankie, and Janine. They have no choice…they have to find an Option C.

Gunfights, treachery, and (obviously) rattlesnakes ensue.

Frankie and Her Troops

In almost every novel I’d normally read, Frankie and her employees would be the targets of the protagonist, not their ally. But I’ve gotta say, for a bunch of gun-running criminals, benefiting from the miseries of others (and being a means to innocents being killed at the hands of their customers), they’re a lot of fun. There’s a fun sense of camaraderie and some good banter among them. They’re a pretty effective squad, too. Kolakowski could write a pretty entertaining series featuring these guys. And not just because they’re led by a man who always wears a rubber gorilla mask.

Which is fitting, considering how cool their boss is. Spenser has Hawk, Kenzie and Gennaro have Bubba, Elvis Cole has Joe Pike, Walt Longmire has Henry Standing Bear, Joe Pickett has Nate Romanowski, Sunny Randall has Spike, and Jake has Frankie. The “not-bound by the same laws and ethics that the series protagonist is” so that the protagonist can keep his/her nose clean and still get the job done. They’ll cut the corners, they’ll take and make the shots that no one else will, they’ll be the ones to use lethal force when their friend just can’t bring themselves to do it—and they won’t feel guilt (at least not enough to interfere with their ability to get things done).

Frankie is, as far as I know, the only female lethal sidekick, in crime fiction. Through grit, determination, skill, and panache—Frankie is what ultimately keeps her brother and sister-in-law breathing. It’s just fun to see a female in this role, particularly one that fits. I could never see Sunny Randall go toe-to-toe with some of the dudes she needs to without Spike (or Jesse, or Richie, or Richie’s family)—but I can see Frankie (like Lori Anderson or Charlie Fox) do it without blinking.

The Setting

I’ve talked a little about this in the other book, but it’s fun for me to see the region I’ve lived my whole life in depicted so well in these pages. I enjoy anyone finding a way to bring a crime novel to life outside of Boston, NYC, New Jersey, Chicago, Miami or LA—Elmore Leonard, Jason Miller, Craig Johnson, C. J. Box, Darynda Jones, and G. M. Ford have/continue to do a good job of that, but there needs to be more*. Kolakowski brings my corner of the world into that fold (Jayne Faith did it in Urban Fantasy, and Wesley Chu set a Tao book near where the climax of this novel took place). It’s nice not having to use my imagination much when picturing a scene, at the same time—if I’d never been anywhere near this place, Kolakowski depicts it well enough that someone from Michigan, Mississippi, or New Mexico would have no problem seeing what he’s going for.

* I don’t pretend that’s an exhaustive list, still feel free to add others I should get to know.

So, what did I think about Rattlesnake Rodeo?

You could feel the dread coming off of Jake and Frankie as they thought about the police and (probably) feds coming for them after surviving the last novel, you could feel their hatred (for Karen) and revulsion for their task for her, and you could sense the chaos, smell the smoke, and taste the air from the big scenes at the end of the novel. There are significant portions of this novel you experience as much as you read. You’ve gotta love that.

There was one death that totally caught me unprepared and left me stunned. The violence felt a little more grounded than the genre demands, but Kolakowski knows when to loosen the reins and let things go a little over the top. Which is just fun.

At the same time, there’s a great sense of enjoyment to this novel—to the characters, what they do, and how they go about it. It’s the kind of action novel that gets your fists pumping as much as anything else.

Just the fact that the novel starts with the trio worried about all the evidence they left behind made this a winner—how many characters in novels worry about that sort of thing? Add in the characters—from the oddity of Monkey Man, to the implausibly competent Frankie, to the quiet strength of Janine, to the terror that is Karen—and the great balance of tones, and you’ll see why Kolakowski is my favorite US indie Crime Novelist.

I strongly recommend Rattlesnake Rodeo, whether or not you read BLHC first, it’s a fun ride.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from the author in exchange for this post and my honest opinion, I appreciate the opportunity.

4 Stars

Silent Bite by David Rosenfelt: Andy Carpenter Does a Favor for a Friend and Ends Up Regretting It

By

On October 2, 2020

In Andy Carpenter, David Rosenfelt, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Silent Bite

Silent Bite

by David Rosenfelt
Series: Andy Carpenter, #22

eARC, 304 pg.
Minotaur Books, 2020

Read: September 16-18, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!


Wow. Andy Carpenter #22. That’s hard to believe. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I started reading these (I think back in the single digits). But all-in-all, it’s been a fun ride. How’s this one stack up?

What’s Silent Bite About?

When Andy and his family return from a holiday cruise (a novella describing that in more detail than we got here would quickly become a fan favorite, no doubt), he’s got a bunch of messages from Willie Miller. A friend, and former cellmate, of Willie’s has been arrested for murder. Both Willie and his friend, Tony Birch, want Andy to take the case and clear him. Andy wants nothing to do with a problematic looking case*, but Willie’s a friend—and Andy’s son, Ricky, has pointed out that Willie does stuff for Andy all the time. Also, Tony has a dog that’s miserable without him around.

* or any case, really.

The murder victim is one of the witnesses against Birch for the manslaughter charge that put him in prison with Willie years ago. At the trial, Tony threatened to kill him (and a few others) for turning on him, after years in a gang together. But upon his release from prison, years before this new murder, Tony had turned his life around—he owned and operated a fairly successful auto repair garage, and had no interest in criminal activity again. So why seek vengeance now?

And why be as utterly stupid with the murder weapon as the prosecution wants people to believe?

But then another witness against Tony in the original case turns up dead, and things start looking really bad for him. So it’s up to Andy and his team to save the day.

Zoey, the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever

I really don’t have much to say about Zoey, Tony’s dog, but I’ve never heard of her breed before—and I don’t feel too bad about that Andy hadn’t seen one before. If your day could use a little lift, take a minute or two to scroll through some pictures online. Cute dogs.*

* That’s a tautology, I realize.

The New Associate

In most of his cases, Andy Carpenter utilizes an associate to do the ugly detailed work, filing motions, looking up pertinent case law, and so on, while Andy goes around visiting people, investigating, getting saved from certain peril by Marcus Clerk, and being snarky and clever in court. He started with Kevin Randall, who owned a laundromat and gave legal advice to those who couldn’t afford it. He eventually moved on and Hike Lynch moved in—largely, I think because Hike is a more entertaining character than Kevin. Well, Hike isn’t around for this one and he suggests Eddie Dowd step in.

Eddie used to play for the Giants, but a knee injury ended that career, so he went to law school. He speaks almost entirely in sports phrases (spike the ball, put me in, pitch in, and so on). It’s fairly ridiculous, but when done right, it’s pretty funny. He’s a nice change from the Eeyore-like character that Hike had been. I’m not sure if he’ll be back, or if Hike will return—I’ll be glad to see him if he is, even if it seems like the joke about his figures of speech will get old. I have faith in Rosenfelt. I’d have thought that Hike’s extreme pessimism or Kevin’s hypochondria would.

So, what did I think about Silent Bite?

I thought the identity of the killer was pretty obvious, but Rosenfelt’s execution of the reveal and of keeping Andy from seeing the solution all along sold me. I can’t be more descriptive of that because I don’t want to tip anything. It was a great conclusion to a really solid legal thriller, that comes with all the canine affection, snappy dialogue, some clever courtroom action, and a solid plot. Pretty much what the doctor ordered.

Once we got The K Team this year, with Muzzled as well, I didn’t figure we’d have a Holiday Andy Carpenter book. Then when I saw this was coming, I worried it wouldn’t live up to the other Holiday books in this series. I kept being wrong about this book—we got it and it wasn’t a let-down. Rosenfelt managed to give us three strong novels in 2020 (hey, look, 2020 didn’t wind up in a disaster on one front!)—that right there, folks, is a sign of a professional.

Whether you’re new to the world of this would-be retired criminal defense lawyer and are in the mood for a witty and sharp legal thriller, or if you’re familiar with Andy and his associates—this will entertain you. You’d do well to give this a shot.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

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