In essence, this is a 46-page short story; entertaining and easy to read, yes, but a short story nonetheless. It's even too short (and certainly too costly) to be a fit with the author's BookShots series (books that are 150 pages or less and sell for under $5), so I have to wonder what's behind it. Perhaps the hope of a new series featuring Texas Ranger Rory Yates? A made-for-TV movie? Time will tell, I guess. Meantime, if you like cops-and-robber stories and/or need something you can polish off while waiting at the dentist's office, you might want to give this one a look.
In the middle of a hostage situation which his well-known skill with a gun takes care of, Rory is unable to respond to a call from his ex-wife Anne (they're divorced, but he's still very much in love with her). When he finally gets free and returns her call, she's clearly terrified; it seems she's been getting threatening phone calls and is sure she's in physical danger. That upsets Rory, who immediately starts the four-hour drive to his home town to see her. When his on-the-way calls aren't returned, he freaks out, breaking all speed limits to get to her fast.
But alas, it's not fast enough. He arrives at her home - the one they used to share - to find that she's been murdered. Not too surprisingly, he becomes an early-on suspect - as does the new man in her life, a trucker with whom, from everyone's perspective except Rory, she's totally in love. Of course, Rory is told in no uncertain terms to stay away from the investigation; also of course, he doesn't listen. As an aside, at this point he begins to annoy me as much as the heroines from cozy mysteries who forge ahead, never heeding anyone's advice, warnings or ultimatims (but who, after they've solved the problem, somehow manage to end up forgiven by everyone and free to go do it all over again). In this case, Rory crosses so many Texas Ranger lines that, had all this happened in real life, I have no doubt he'd have become Texas toast in their eyes.
The story follows his efforts to find a killer who, when another murdered woman turns up, appears to be on a roll. Along the way, he learns a few things he really doesn't want to know about his ex-wife (and himself). In short - and I emphasize the short - there's plenty of action and even some edge-of-seat moments until the end (which took me roughly a couple of hours to reach while watching the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers play to a tie in their NFL season opener).
Texas Ranger by James Patterson and Andrew Bourelle (Little, Brown and Co., August 2018); 46 pp.
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