5 stars out of 5
An uber-competent, likable yet flawed character, the first of what I hope will be a series and a plot with complexity that's easy to understand: What's not to like? By the time I was halfway through this one, I was hoping for the next.
This one begins as Marko Zorn, a detective with the Washington, D.C., Metro Police, fights over the rights to a body found in the Reflecting Pool with the city's park police. No, it's not a suicide; it's a homicide and it's ours, Marko asserts after he ruined his expensive clothing hauling the body out of the water. The park police back off, unwillingly, and there are no real clues as to what really happened except for a bracelet Marko spots in the surrounding grass.
Marko's expensive tastes couldn't happen with just a police department paycheck, and he supplements his income in other ways - sometimes not just skirting the law, but pretty much stomping it into the ground. As the murder happens, gang activity is picking up, with two members of one gang seemingly at odds with each other. The gang leader, an old woman named Sister Grace, occasionally asks Marko for help. This time, she has another job for him - but it's not one he's eager to take on (there are limits as to what he will do for money, it seems). As if all that weren't enough, his station boss shackles him to a new, squeaky clean partner - just about the last thing he wants to deal with right now.
Even worse, as his murder investigation ramps up, it becomes clear that unknown powers-that-be don't want Marko (or anyone else) digging in - powers that lead straight to the White House itself. The power struggle between the gang rivals heats up as well, fueled by a huge shipment of illegal guns that, depending on who ends up with them, could change the D.C. landscape entirely. Marko doesn't mind sticking to his own guns when it comes to the murder investigation, but if he screws up on the arms deal, it could "out" his side job - or even put him out of commission permanently. Can he pull everything off without losing everything, including his own life?
Well, you'll just have to read it to find out - and trust me, it's worth it. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-publication copy. Good job!
The Reflecting Pool by Otho Eskin (Oceanview Publishing, June 2020); 352 pp.)
5 stars out of 5
This is the 19th in the author's series featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett, and having read them all, it's one of the best, I think. Granted, it leans a bit more toward the dark side with some really nasty characters, but the story was so intriguing - and moved along so quickly - that I kept pushing to get to the conclusion as fast as I could.
After losing his job at the conclusion of the previous book, Joe is back in the saddle again, this time out in the wilds investigating leg hold traps that have been set but not retrieved - a no-no in this territory where wild animals are supposed to roam free. Usually, it's not easy to determine who the traps belong to, but in this case, the owner's initials are on the trap. Before he can do much about it, though, he's called by another nearby ranger, Katelyn Hamm, who has spotted a drone swooping down and scaring the bejesus out of herds of deer.
As it turns out, the drone belongs to the grandfather of the young man Joe's daughter Lucy is dating (she's the last of the three daughters still in the cozy nest of Joe and his librarian wife, Marybeth). Even Joe's old friend Nate Romanowski gets in on the action; an experienced falconer and outdoorsman with a shady past, he watches until the next time the drone takes to the skies, encourages his birds to do likewise (with a bang-up result).
But when Joe finally locates the old man in a remote hideaway that doesn't even show up on his GPS, the reception is far from cordial. Confounding matters is that when he and Kate start to take steps that would charge the old guy with breaking the law, the law inexplicably fights back. That sets Joe to wondering: Why on earth is the FBI protecting the man?
Meanwhile, four extremely skilled killers - three men and a woman - start showing up in the area, and dead bodies start showing up as well. It's thought that the killers, dubbed the Wolf Pack, are working for a cartel - apparently trying to find the old man who's in the Witness Protection program to keep him safe until he can testify against other cartel bigwigs.
Needless to say, Joe isn't one to back down; but all too soon, he discovers that putting himself in between the killers and their intended prey might not be the smartest thing he's ever done - and it could even cost him, and his family and friends, their lives. Bodies keep piling up right to the exciting end (which, of course, I won't reveal). All I'll say is this one is a don't-miss, especially for diehard followers like me. Well done!
Wolf Pack by C.J. Box (G.P. Putnam's Sons, March 2019); 384 pp.
4 stars out of 5
There's not quite enough here of Lt. Eve Dallas's hunky husband Roarke for me to put this one - the 48th in the series - on my short list of favorites. Besides that, both Eve and Roarke seem a little lackluster - almost as if they'd rather be anywhere other than in this story - and the setting amid rival gangs isn't quite as attention-holding for me personally as are other scenarios. Otherwise, though, it's got all the goodies I've come to know and love. Eve bickers with Roarke's majordomo Somerset, plays it cool with her stylish friend and competent co-worker Peabody, programs her personal Auto Chef to deliver great coffee (the year is 2061, after all) and Roarke is continuing, for the most part, to resist trying to run every aspect of Eve's life like choosing the clothes she must wear each day (for the latter, thank you, God).
This one begins as Roarke is about to open a sort of haven for wayward young girls called An Didean and hires child psychologist Rochelle Pickering to run it. Rochelle's brother, Lyle, is living with her while he gets his personal house in order; he's a recovering addict and has refused to rejoin his old local gang, the Bangers. Before Rochelle can start her first day on the job, though, Lyle is found murdered in her apartment; early evidence shows he'd apparently returned to his drug habit and overdosed. Devastated, Rochelle insists that her brother would not - and had not - strayed. Her boyfriend, Crack, tags Eve's 'link, asking for her help.
Their more in-depth look determines that Lyle's death was a murder, so now they set out to find the killer or killers. When a witness who lives in the building provides a description of what went on, they strongly suspect it was a gang-related hit. Needless to say, Eve's team, with a little bit of help from super-tech-friendly Roarke, delves into the gang world both electronically and in person.
As I said in the beginning, this is not a world of which I want any part, not even to read about - so for me it leaned a tiny bit toward ho-hum, which is an unusual pronouncement for me to make of this series. Still, the plot is well done well and held my attention and the characters both familiar and fun - and of course, I'm already waiting for the next one.
Connections in Death by J.D. Robb (St. Martin's Press, February 2019); 365 pp.
4 stars out of 5
To be sure, this is a solid, well-thought out and well-written debut novel that held my attention right to the end. There's plenty of action, and even some chuckle-out-loud lines.
But all those positives aside, at no time did I really "like" reading it.
That's largely because, for better or worse, the setting - high crime rate East Long Beach, California - is almost impossible for me, a WASP from America's heartland Midwest, to comprehend. I just can't relate to guys who frequently call each other the "n" word (which apparently can be both derogatory and a term of endearment, depending on who's talking to whom). I wrestled with concepts like the young man whose IQ is at near-genius level but who earns money by ripping off local shops and long-time friends whose loyalty disappears at the drop of a dime bag or a busty young woman's tube top.
No, this definitely isn't my world, nor, to tell the truth, is it a world I want any part of. But that doesn't change the fact that this is a really good book; if I could award it 4.5 stars, I would, and I thank the author and publisher, via NetGalley, for giving me the opportunity to read it in exchange for an honest review.
Chapters shift from past to present, serving up details of the coming of age, if you will, of Isaiah Quintabe - or IQ, as he's called - and other shifts take place within chapters. That made it a bit more difficult for me to follow, but in this case it's an effective technique. In the present, the high school dropout is a sort of problem-solver in the style of Sherlock Holmes - a self-made investigator when the need arises and the cops don't want to get serious (which can be often in this high-crime neighborhood). He's hired by a bigwig in the rap music industry who's richer than God but believes that someone is out to get him (and being attacked and nearly killed by a pit bull the size of Texas pretty much proves he's right). He's got a couple of henchmen/bodyguards/friends with questionable intentions; could one or both of them be behind the attack? Or maybe his clearly disgruntled ex-wife hired the hit. Or not.
The flashback scenes take place a few years earlier, when Isaiah lived with his much-idolized older brother Marcus, who kept Isaiah rooted in normalcy and the hope of a better future. But then, the unthinkable happens; Marcus's life is tragically cut short and IQ is left to fend for himself. Paying for their apartment becomes almost impossible, so he finds a roommate in the not-so-upstanding Juanell Dodson. Tying in past and present, the former roommate is the one who talks Isaiah into taking the job for the music mogul.
For those who care about such things (I don't), the language is fairly graphic and the murders and near-murders are fairly grisly. But even to someone like me, who gets this kind of news only from the newspaper or NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, it all seemed very real. And that, if nothing else, makes this book worthwhile reading.
IQ by Joe Ide (Mulholland Books, October 2016); 337 pp.
An uber-competent, likable yet flawed character, the first of what I hope will be a series and a plot with complexity that's easy to understand: What's not to like? By the time I was halfway through this one, I was hoping for the next.
