San Diego Dead - Mark Nolan

The fourth book in the Jack Wolfe series by Mark Nolan 

Danger is never far away from Jack Wolfe, the marine turned lawyer who resides in California, with his faithful ex-service dog, Cody. He sits on a white sandy beach in Cabo San Lucas enjoying a vacation, but then the water turns cold as murder is washing up on the shore.

A relaxing holiday goes awry when violence erupts involving a criminal cartel on his doorstep, and when murderous intentions involve faithful friends of both the two and four legged kind, Wolfe must reclaim a deadly package to save innocent lives.

Also in jeopardy is his burgeoning relationship with Sarah, an accomplished veterinarian who loves both Jake and Cody, yet cannot decide if she can be with someone who must drop everything at the drop of a hat to go save the world.

As this reader writes this plotline of the fourth Jake Wolfe novel, it may seem far fetched and outlandish, yet if you have ever read a Lee Child/Jack Reacher novel you will know that outlandishness is not too faraway.

The problem with this book is the characterisation and weak dialogue which does not roll of the tongue of the characters as it would if someone like Child was at the helm.

That is perhaps doing a disservice to the action sequences of the book which jump off the page, yet once Wolfe talks as an amalgm of any Matthew McConnaughey character or the machismo of Jordan Belfort, it is just that when Wolfe who is indebted to save the world and very much in love with Sarah, is so easily tempted and could easily commit infidelity with Agent Greene in the closing chapters of the book it leaves a bit of a bad taste in the mouth - the wish fulfilment Bond like scenario is probably the most disbelieving part of the set-up.

The attempts to create a viable alternative to the buddy-cop partnership, one is human, one is man's best friend, but both are war veterans should be commended yet the attempt to write part of Cody's point of view is perhaps expected but not successful.

This reader like the action sequences but found some of the characterisation a bit too on the nose, much like Wolfe's tasting notes for the wine (of which there are three in this book); this is nonetheless good escapist fare which was easy to digest in a few sittings.

My thanks to damppebbles blog tour for the review opportunity in exchange for an honest review.

San Diego Dead is out now and available on Amazon Kindle.

American Crow - Book review

 

English freelance journalist Jack Lacey has released his first self-published novel on Amazon.co.uk. Entitled American Crow, this is the first release in a series of books called The Missing Series featuring the lead character Sibelius Blake.

Whilst unashamedly endebted to the work of Lee Child and his novels featuring the iconic character of Jack Reacher, this is most definitely the work of one author seeking to get his workout in the bigger world with his uniqueness.

Whilst Child is also an English author, he is one who has very much become an Americanized author with Reacher going from state to state like Child is touring the nation. From coast to coast, valley to mountains; Reacher overcomes all comers due to his immense size and even bigger intelligence.

Blake in contrast is a battered investigator suffering from the trauma of the death of a family member. Vowing to finding missing people as a promise to the dearly departed, he is coaxed into one last job which means going back to America. A country where a warrant remains for his arrest.

Arriving in a snowy Canada and then ushered into the USA by being smuggled in the underbelly of a lorry. Blake encounters many characters in search of a missing girl which brings it all too close to home for our hero.  The brilliance of Blake is that he still maintains an everyman quality, having to think on his feet in some tough situations; whereas Reacher is the sort of guy who is the smartest guy in the room, and will act upon any mistakes made by his enemies.

Lacey excels in the briskness and pacing of the novel. From exposition to dialogue to set pieces, Lacey has a good eye for detail and painting an effective picture of the world Blake inhabits whilst still doing a good job of keeping Blake as the fish out of water protagonist, borrowing a trope from traditional crime fiction in that Blake is like us the reader sometimes noticing things for the first time; we share his surprise and shock in response to events.

Also embedded by Lacey is an environmental sub-plot into the narrative with an evil mining tyrant who is ripping the heart of the Kentucky mountains so as well as moral implications to the characters there are also wider social leanings to impact the people.

American Crow is a page turner that I digested in three sittings, at times enthralling and at times funny, Lacey has created a character in Sibelius Blake this reviewer cannot wait to read more of.

You can purchase American Crow on Amazon.co.uk here 
Jack Lacey is on twitter @JackLaceyBooks

Keep your eyes peeled for a forthcoming interview with the author, exclusively on NextToTheAisle