DAVID PUTNAM - THE REPLACEMENTS (2015)

Synopsis/blurb….

Bruno Johnson, ex-detective with Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and an ex-convict, is hiding out from the FBI in Costa Rica, tending bar to support eight children he illegally rescued from abusive homes. Partway through a normal day, Barbara Wicks, a former colleague and the chief of police for Montclair, California, walks into his bar. Bruno is shocked to the core.  Is she there to arrest him and take him back to California? Turns out she's there to request Bruno's help.  Two children have been kidnapped. 

The kidnapper, Jonas Mabry, was himself a victim whom Bruno rescued as a small child.  Now Mabry demands a fool's retribution, a million dollar ransom, and Bruno to put his life on the line to get the money. In this twisted turn of fate, Bruno returns as a wanted criminal to California.  Despite the risk of arrest and even his life, he cannot turn his back on these kids.  And neither can Bruno's girlfriend, Marie. 

I read and enjoyed Dave Putnam’s debut novel The Disposables early in 2014. The Disposables attracted praise from the likes of Michael Connelly, T. Jefferson Parker and William Bernhardt.

The Disposables review here.

His second novel picks up with Bruno Johnson, our ex-cop settling into life as a bar-keep in Costa Rica with his girlfriend, Marie, his ailing father and the children they saved from a lifetime of abuse and hurt. Bruno is wanted back in the States by the FBI for his part in the children’s abduction. Bruno has a chequered past, as well as being a former cop he’s also an ex-convict, having killed his son-in-law after the man was responsible for the death of his grandson.   

All is going well until a former colleague of Bruno’s walks into his bar and entices him back to the US. A couple of girls have been kidnapped and the perpetrator, Jonas Mabry will only deal with Johnson. The two have a connection, as 20 years previously Bruno saved Jonas as a small child when his mother shot and killed his two sisters before shooting her son and turning the gun on herself.

Bruno, despite the risk to his freedom and over the protestations of his family, goes back under the radar. Once he’s back in the States the pace picks up and is pretty relentless until the climax.

Child abduction, a rapid quick-fire investigation, cops, the FBI, Sons of Satan biker gang, a stakeout on a beached whale of an ex-bank robbing felon, ransom demands, gold bullion, Aryan Brotherhood, fractured and damaged family and history and a bitter resentment fuelling a desire for revenge.

Harsh, brutal, violent – Bruno is not averse to employing a bit of the aforementioned in his efforts to get him closer to the missing kids. So probably not a book for the faint-hearted.

I loved it myself….great characters with heart, doses of humour and plenty of action. Unlikely characters, such as Karl Drago – our whale-like bank robber revealing hidden depths of humanity and stoicism and a desire to do the right thing, despite all the previous evidence to the contrary.

A fantastic read.

5 from 5

I was fortunate enough to receive and ARC from the author just before Christmas.

The Replacements was released earlier this month by Oceanview Publishing.

David Putnam has his website here. 

BOB FORWARD - THE OWL: JUSTICE NEVER SLEEPS (1984)

Synopsis/blurb……

It’s the mid-1980s. Crime in Los Angeles is running rampant. When the law can’t help you, there is one man who can: Alexander L’Hiboux, whose ability to sleep was destroyed in the ghastly tragedy that cost him his family. Now he’s justice-for-hire, prowling the streets and solving crimes with deadly finality. A desperate, grief-stricken shipping magnate hires The Owl to find the scum who brutalized his daughter…a quest that uncovers a shocking conspiracy that will rock the city.

New author – tick,

Brash Books offering – tick,

Los Angeles setting – tick,

80’s – time frame - tick

Action, gun-play, a kidnapping and vigilante pay-back in the form of the insomnolence-suffering, enigmatic Owl – 4 ticks.

Plot and main character were a wee bit OTT, but after chucking my plausibility-radar in the corner after a chapter or two, I kicked back and enjoyed the ride. Did I totally buy into The Owl as the equally feared and revered harbinger of doom to the lawless? Not totally, but I was convinced enough to finish this one in fairly short order. I used to love watching Arnie and Bruce busting a few heads on screen. I loved reading about The Owl busting a few heads here.

Credit to Bob Forward for introducing a unique protagonist with a condition that stops him sleeping…..ever. His back-story and the minimal amount of personal relationships or contact he allows himself, firmly cements him as one of society’s outsiders. Definitely a guy you wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of. I was reminded me a little bit of Andrew Vachss’ Burke character, although Burke has a larger network of helpers.  

Great little diversionary scenes from the author which underline the lack of normality that The Owl enjoys in his everyday life. For example - the lengths he has to go to in order to get a shower in a motel had me chuckling.

Best book ever? No but more than enough to like and have me looking forward to Forward’s second Owl book – Scarlet Serenade.

 

Bob Forward’s website is here.

4 from 5 

Accessed through Net Galley, courtesy of Brash Books      

LEE MATTHEW GOLDBERG - DE/TACHED (2013)

Synopsis/blurb…..

Nick is an intense filmmaker who keeps tabs on his wife by filming her every move until he begins receiving mysterious videos in the mail of someone filming him. A prequel to my debut neo-noir novel SLOW DOWN just released by New Pulp Press. Find it in paperback and Kindle.

I had a recent e-mail asking if I would be interested in taking a look at the author’s debut novel, SLOW DOWN. Rather than jump in with both feet, I had a little look around to see whether I could sample the author’s style before committing myself to something longer that might not necessarily float my boat. Not like me to exercise restraint when offered a peek at a book!

DETACHED is an 18 page short story available for free download on Amazon, so why not. Worst case, I don’t like it and I can bat away the offer without feeling like I haven’t been overly abrupt.

Best case I enjoy it and have the opportunity to try a bit of NEO-NOIR whatever that is. Plus it counts as another one read on the old scoreboard – not that I’m obsessed or anything with hitting my year-end total.

Verdict – strange, disturbing, weird – are there people who actually live their lives like this? A husband films his wife around the clock and the following day does exactly the same whilst organising time-slots and their schedule for reviewing the previous day’s footage. Send for the strait jackets immediately. I don’t think the climax of one day’s footage was quite what he was expecting.

Short, sharp, intriguing…..and a yes to the offer of SLOW DOWN.

4 from 5

Lee Matthew Goldberg has a website here.

He was recently interviewed by Paul D. Brazill – blog friend, author and tireless supporter of authors at all levels in their career. 

The interview is here.

Acquired on Amazon UK.

BILL CRIDER - OUTRAGE AT BLANCO (1998)

Synopsis/blurb………

Crider’s prose slices through conventions and expectations,” –Booklist

OUTRAGE AT BLANCO

It’s True Grit meets Gran Torino in a blazingly original crime novel from Bill Crider, an Edgar and Shamus finalist and a two-time winner of the Anthony Award

On a bloody day in 1887, death came to Blanco, Texas.

Before the sun went down, the livery stable was torched, an outlaw gang robbed the bank, two men were killed, and young newlywed Ellie Taine was raped. One of the dead was the man who planned the robbery – the son of dying, legendary Texas Ranger Jonathan Crossland – the other was Ellie’s husband, an innocent bystander.

The dead don’t know fear.

Ellie is dead inside. She takes a gun and rides out after the desperadoes, cold-blooded and fearless, determined to kill the men who ruined her life. She’s joined by Jonathan Crossland, who only has days left to live… but would rather die in his saddle making amends for his son than rot in his bed. Together, Ellie and Jonathan set out on a mission of vengeance and justice, one that neither of them expects nor hopes to survive.

“In the hands of Bill Crider, noir seems as atmospheric and doomful as ever,” Publisher’s Weekly

"Bill Crider is one of the most unpretentious and versatile pure entertainers in the mystery field." Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine

A 1998 book from Bill Crider and an absolute blast.  A dark Western-cum-crime novel that starts ferociously with an attack and rape of Ellie Taine and never really lets up throughout.

Naively and ill-equipped for the task in hand, Ellie’s husband sets out after the culprits and soon perishes whilst they are in the middle of a bank robbery. Something inside Ellie has broken and she decides to pursue the gang herself and get herself a bit of frontier justice.

Great time frame and setting for this, interesting plot which soon sees Ellie teaming up with Jonathan Crossland – a man with more than foot in the grave already – on their chase, an interesting bunch of characters, not the least of which is Irish villain, Daniel O’Grady. O’Grady is the most likeable of our bunch of desperadoes and didn't have any involvement in the earlier rape. Moments of humour as well, especially when our thieves fall out and cross paths again.

Whilst empathising with Ellie Taine and wanting her to achieve closure, I had a hankering for O’Grady to live to fight another day. A satisfactory ending that ticked all the boxes for me.

5 from 5 and a scratch of the head, where has Bill Crider been all my reading life?

Crider originally had this published back in 1998. He released a follow up – Texas Vigilante in 1999. One to keep an eye out for I think.

Bill Crider has been a fairly prolific author over the years with a 20 plus book series starring Sheriff Dan Rhodes, as well as many others. I do wish I had discovered him 10 years ago though.

His website is here.

I got hold of Outrage at Blanco via Net Galley. One of my favourite publishers - Brash Books have brought this and Texas Vigilante back into print.

     

2 BY DAVID CRAY

Well when I found out that re-discovered New York favourite, Stephen Solomita had published 6 books under the David Cray moniker, it seemed shockingly rude not to check a few of them out.

A few? OK, most then. Most? Alright I got all of them. In my defence, they were cheap.

The 6 are……..

Keeplock (1995)

Bad Lawyer (2001)

Little Girl Blue (2001)

What You Wish for (2002)

Partners (2003)

Dead Is Forever (2004)

Hopefully they won’t disappear into the tubs never to see the light of day again?

Keeplock

Publisher's Weekly

Peter Frangello hasn't been out of jail for three straight years since he was 16. Now in his 30s, freshly paroled and determined to stay clean, he's in trouble within a day of release. A friend from the slammer is setting up an armored car heist that interests two corrupt cops; they elect Frangello to move in on the theft-and keep them posted. Frangello still wants to to do the right thing, but sees that ''the right thing wasn't there to do.'' His parole officer likes him but can't help; his girl, Ginny, is loyal but he needs to protect her. This fairly linear narrative features grim, authentic-feeling jail flashbacks. The plot, in which Frangello hopes to survive threats from the clean cops, bent ones and the crooks running the heist, has a few holes (a final confrontation with one bad cop leaves a reader wondering where the other one is). But Cray, who is really Stephen Solomita, gives plenty of insider dope on the crime world and creates, in Frangello, an unexpectedly sympathetic unheroic hero.

Library Journal

A born sociopath and life-long criminal, Peter Frangello has decided to go straight. A former prison buddy, however, plans a big-time heist, and ambitious detectives hope to snare him by planting Frangello at his side. Suspenseful, nitty-gritty work from the pseudonymous Stephen Solomita (Last Chance for Glory).

BookList - George Needham

"Keeplock" refers to the practice of keeping a troublemaking prisoner locked in his cell all day, not allowing him out for chores, recreation, or meals. Here, the word becomes a symbol for the locked cell all criminals inhabit, whether they are in prison at the moment or not. Peter Frangello, a career criminal paroled after completing 10 years of his 15-year sentence in New York's toughest prison, wants to stay out of jail this time. Frangello hasn't had a sudden rush of remorse; he has been targeted for death by another inmate and narrowly missed one murderous attack. But the parole system, the other ex-cons in his halfway house, and two rogue cops conspire to make sure Frangello remains a prisoner, one way or another. With the support of his girlfriend and a sympathetic parole officer, he attempts to double-cross both his former prison buddy, who has involved him in an armored-car heist, and the cops, who are strong-arming him into betraying the plot. The last page of the novel evokes the classic finale of the 1930s movie "I Was a Fugitive from a Chain Gang." Highly recommended.

Bad Lawyer

Sid Kaplan once had it all: a high-profile, dynamic career in criminal law, high profile fees too - and enough arrogance to alienate practically everyone he knew. So no one wept for Sid Kaplan when booze and cocaine plummeted him to disrepute. Now, though, a big case has come Sid's way, one certain to restore to him some of his old professional glory. Thelma Barrow, a housewife, has sought out Sid to defend her accused daughter, Priscilla, in a media-hot murder case. For Sid, the publicity more than compensates for the pittance Thelma can afford to pay, as the papers and news shows headline stories of drugs and violence and the murderous motives of a white woman who has suffered abuse at the hands of her black husband. Nor is Sid put off by the fact that Priscilla - who happens to be a babe - is probably lying about more than a few details. Then the drug dealers show up. They insist that Priscilla is holding out on them, that she's pocketed 450,000 of their dollars, despite her protestations otherwise. Matters grown more criminally perilous when the only two friends Sid has managed not to lose - are killed.

LOGGING THE LIBRARY - PART TWENTY

20th tub - so 1000 books logged and catalogued.

999 of them remain untouched and 1 has been pulled and read, I'd like to say I'm about halfway through the logging task but a quarter-way would be much nearer the mark!

Tub 20 - books 951 - 1000

Brit Crime, Brit Lit, US espionage, Us Lit, and some humour.

Loved the 5 People Heaven book.

Not sure what it's about - a second hand acquisition

John Grisham x 3 - I like a bit of legal now and again., Linoel Davidson and a Crais book which I have subsequently evicted from the library because I read it in 2013.

I think I've seen the film - Gene Hackman maybe?

Two New Zealand crime books from Paul Thomas, the ever-present Lawrence Block, Domenic Stansberry and Hard Case Crime, plus a 50's book by Harry Whittington

50's Noir and I think it got left out in the sun too long!

Block again, 2 from Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard and a Tom Sharpe

Not crime

Definitely crime

Tourist Season - one of the funniest books I have ever read, Helen MacInnes, Arnaldur Indridason - Iceland, Graham Greene and Ian Fleming

Not read any Fleming or Bond yet.

Daniel Silva series book.

Newton Thornburg - I absolutely loved his TO DIE IN CALIFORNIA - heart-wrenching.

30's novel from Greene

Block monster short story collection, Newton Thornburg, Daniel Silva, Sebastian Faulks and some non-fiction crime!

Brit Lit

Irreverent Les Norton, Aussie PI stuff

Brit Crime from the 90's I think

Another Barrett - Les Norton book, Robert Rankin, and Grisham again.

Tom Robbins - I hope it's better than the last one of his I read which sucked,  plus non-fiction memoirs type stuff from a war zone reporter.

Another Jon McGregor book, Jo-Ann Goodwin and Charles Williams 

Brit-Lit

Bateman - N. Ireland Crime author, Erica Spindler wifey-book!

Clifford Hanley - I wanted his other book that Moira blogged about, but I found this instead 

Grisham-like I think, 

Another Station book from Downing, another Allon book from Silva and a REDNECK MANIFESTO from SHIT MAGNET author Jim Goad

Another Hiaasen, Nicholas Blincoe, Lawrence Block,  Robert Barrett, John Grisham.

Post-logging view of the tub.

The replacement book for the Robert Crais to bring the numbers back up to 50

Highlights........Newton Thornburg, Carl Hiaasen, Lawrence Block,

Lowlights.....nothing really that I'm now averse to reading.

Tub 21 next week, let the second thousand commence!

FULL LIST.......

AUTHOR		TITLE	YEAR	SERIES	FICTION/NON
ALBOM	MITCH	FOR ONE MORE DAY	2006		F
AMBLER	ERIC	THE LIGHT OF DAY	1962	AAS1	F
AYRES	CHRIS	WAR REPORTING FOR COWARDS	2005		N
BARRETT	ROBERT G.	THE GODSON	1989	LN4	F
BARRETT	ROBERT G.	MELE KALIKIMAKA MR WALKER	1994	LN8	F
BATEMAN	COLIN	I PREDICT A RIOT	2007		F
BERENSON	ALEX	THE SECRET SOLDIER	2011	JW5	F
BLINCOE	NICHOLAS	MANCHESTER SLINGBACK	1998		F
BLOCK	LAWRENCE	EVEN THE WICKED	1996	MS13	F
BLOCK	LAWRENCE	THE BURGLAR WHO LIKED TO QUOTE KIPLING	1979	BR3	F
BLOCK	LAWRENCE	THE BURGLAR WHO PAINTED LIKE MONDRIAN	1983	BR5	F
BLOCK	LAWRENCE	THE COLLECTED MYSTERY STORIES	2000		F
DAVIDSON	LIONEL	KOLYMSKY HEIGHTS	1994		F
DOWNING	DAVID	SILESIAN STATION	2008	JR2	F
FAULKS	SEBASTIAN	HUMAN TRACES	2005		F
FLEMING	IAN	FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE	1957	JB5	F
GLENNY	MISHA	McMAFIA	2008		N
GOAD	JIM	THE REDNECK MANIFESTO	1997		N
GOODWIN	JO-ANN	DANNY BOY	2000		F
GREENE	GRAHAM	ENGLAND MADE ME	1935		F
GRISHAM	JOHN	THE FIRM	1991		F
GRISHAM	JOHN	THE INNOCENT MAN	2006		N
GRISHAM	JOHN	THE SUMMONS	2002		F
GRISHAM	JOHN	THE STREET LAWYER	1998		F
GRISHAM	JOHN	THE TESTAMENT	1999		F
HANLEY	CLIFFORD	A SKINFUL OF SCOTCH	1965		N
HART	JOHN	THE LAST CHILD	2009		F
HAWKS	TONY	PLAYING THE MOLDOVANS AT TENNIS	2007		N
HIAASEN	CARL	BASKET CASE	2002		F
HIAASEN	CARL	SICK PUPPY	1999	S4	F
HIAASEN	CARL	TOURIST SEASON	1986		F
HIAASEN	CARL	DOUBLE WHAMMY	1988	S1	F
INDRIDASON	ARNALDUR	SILENCE OF THE GRAVE	2005	IE2	F
LEONARD	ELMORE	STICK	1983		F
MACINNES	HELEN	ASSIGNMENT IN BRITTANY	1942		F
McGREGOR	JON	EVEN THE DOGS	2010		F
McGREGOR	JON	IF NOBODY SPEAKS OF REMARKABLE THINGS	2002		F
RANKIN	ROBERT	APOCALYPSO	1998		F
RAYMOND	DEREK	NIGHTMARE IN THE STREET	2006		F
ROBBINS	TOM	VILLA INCOGNITO	2003		F
SHARPE	TOM	VINTAGE STUFF	1982		F
SILVA	DANIEL	THE SECRET SERVANT	2007	GA7	F
SILVA	DANIEL	THE MESSENGER	2006	GA6	F
SPINDLER	ERICA	BLOOD VINES	2010		F
STANSBERRY	DOMENIC	THE CONFESSION	2004		F
THOMAS	PAUL	GUERILLA SEASON	1996	TI3	F
THOMAS	PAUL	INSIDE DOPE	1995	TI2	F
THORNBURG	NEWTON	DREAMLAND	1983		F
WHITTINGTON	HARRY	WEB OF MURDER	1958		F
WILLIAMS	CHARLES	MAN ON A LEASH	1973		F

CHESTER HIMES - THE END OF A PRIMITIVE (1955)

Synopsis/blurb…..

Jesse Robinson wakes from his nightmare to dirty, fitful real life in a Harlem slum.

Kriss wakes up alone divorced, disillusioned, in her plush Manhattan apartment. They have nothing in common. Just one amazing, passionate weekend in Chicago and a desire to meet again.

Shortly before his death, Chester Himes gave an interviewer this remarkable plot summary of The End of a Primitive. "I put a sexually frustrated American woman and a racially frustrated black American male together for a weekend in a New York apartment, and allowed them to soak in American bourbon. I got the result I was looking for: a nightmare of drunkenness, unbridled sexuality, and in the end, tragedy". This new edition of Himes's most searing and controversial novel restores the cuts he was forced to make in 1955 in order to get the novel published and includes a never-before-printed foreword by Himes himself.

Well if anyone fancies a 1955 book which will rock you to the core, one that will thrill you, tease you, enthral you and have you hurrying to turn the pages, etc etc……it definitely won’t be this one.

Dull, awful, dire, boring and turgid……. that’s the highlights covered then!

Not a crime novel per se, but a novel in which a crime occurs at the end. I think maybe I have gotten my comeuppance here insofar as I have a tendency to buy an author’s back catalogue on the basis of having read one book (sometimes none) – in the case of Himes I have read one of his Coffin Ed – Gravedigger Jones books though which one escapes me at the minute.

Anyway a 1955 book for Rich Westwood’s Past Offences meme.

Just over 200 pages long and I sensed very early on I was in for a tough time reading it. Dense paragraphs that don’t serve to advance the story in anyway whatsoever……..

Across the top of the dresser was a remnant of dark upholstery fabric, ravelled at both ends, and littered with toilet articles – combs and brushes, a bar of green soap in a yellow saucer, three toothbrushes in a dirty glass, a rusty safety razor in a plastic case – a huge, vicious-looking, pearl handle clasp knife made in Denmark, a bottle of iodine, a tin of bandages, an empty hair tonic bottle, an empty sparkling water bottle, a gin bottle with three fingers of gin, a dirty drinking glass, a brown sack containing three raw eggs, and a number of half-used folders of paper matches.    

I would tell you about his kitchen inventory but I don’t think I want to spoil your own reading pleasure.

Anyway – a struggling black author obsessed with his dreams and sex, especially with white women, definitely not with members of his own sex and a white woman happy to have sex with all and sundry, most of the time, especially black men. She was duped into marrying a man who was subsequently revealed to be homosexual. 

They meet up again, drink copious amounts of alcohol, which seems to be their raison d’etre for living when not having boring moments of self-analysis. One of them dies.

A real shame they both couldn't have died on about page 3.

1 from 5 – the cover isn't too bad.

Not rushing towards my Himes autobiographies or other works which are more firmly crime orientated.

Owned copy. 

RUSSEL D. McLEAN - CRY UNCLE (2015)

Synopsis/blurb….

Dundee-based private investigator J. McNee finds himself way out of his depth in his latest undercover assignment. Working undercover on behalf of the police, McNee's mission is to get close to aging gangster David Burns and uncover his secrets. In his role as Burns' new right hand man, he's expected to follow orders and get his hands dirty. But how far can he go before he crosses the line? With the murder of Burns' nephew - supposedly under McNee's protection at the time - the tension ratchets up to breaking point, and McNee finds himself in the midst of a vicious turf war. His cover at risk of being blown at any moment, in this deadly game McNee is beginning to realize he's expendable. To survive, he's going to have to change the rules...Dark, violent and psychologically gripping, Cry Uncle blends the grit of classic American hardboiled fiction with a distinctly Scottish voice

Another Net Galley read, another new author and a tick in the box for my on-going Scottish reading challenge.

Cry Uncle is the fifth from the author featuring J. McNee. The previous four, of which I have a couple are The Good Son, The Lost Sister, Father Confessor and Mothers of the Disappeared.

I must admit whilst I enjoyed it, at times I did feel like I had come in halfway through the viewing of a film, where although you get the gist of what is going on, you do feel like you have missed out somewhat.

Cry Uncle was an interesting enough tale whereby our main character has gone undercover in an effort to help take down Dundee’s crime-lord and king-pin, David Burns. McLean throws up an interesting conundrum, as to what level of law-breaking is acceptable in an effort to establish trust whilst working undercover. Our man when out and about with his enforcer partner, has some grey areas to navigate when there a bit of violence and intimidation on the menu.

As the novel progresses we understand why McNee has been tasked with gathering evidence for his puppet-master and you have to feel sorry for him in the situation where he is extremely isolated and vulnerable. Events from his history, further cement that sense of reader empathy.

Overall enjoyable, a decent plot, interesting main character. Plenty of grit and violence though not at the expense of the development of the cast of characters. I also enjoyed the setting of Dundee – a bit of a change from Glasgow, though I doubt McLean would endear himself to the Dundee Tourist Board (if such a body exists)!

I did like McLean’s sly hat-tip to author Ray Banks and his Manchester PI – Cal Innes.

I do think my enjoyment would have been enhanced by having read some, (possibly all?) of the earlier books in the series.

4 from 5

Russel D. McLean’s website is over here.

Accessed via Net Galley

        

LEE GOLDBERG/JANET EVANOVICH - THE JOB (2014)

Synopsis/blurb….

The third book in the exciting and suspenseful Fox and O'Hare series from Janet Evanovich, No. 1 bestselling author of the iconic Stephanie Plum novels, and Lee Goldberg, bestselling author of the Monk series.

Catching bad guys is what Special Agent Kate O'Hare does. Working side-by-side with them... not so much.

When the FBI teamed her up with master criminal Nick Fox, they gave her no choice.

Now the ex-Navy Seal has a world-class conman as a partner, and keeping track of him is a full-time job.

Especially when Fox is caught on camera stealing a priceless work of art, taking him right from being the FBI's most covert operative, back to the top of America's most-wanted.

Only Kate suspects all is not what it seems. Nick Fox is no common thief, and snatch and grab just isn't his style. Someone is setting him up, and it's down to Kate to figure out why - before Nicolas Fox, master of disguise, is beaten at his own game.

Lies, hustles and high-stakes take-downs: it's all in a day's work when Fox and O'Hare get THE JOB

My first read in February and an entertaining and inoffensive way to get the new month underway. Best book ever? No, but far from the worst either.

The Job is the 3^rd full length novel starring Fox and O’Hare, following on from The Heist (read and reviewed) and The Chase (skipped). In addition there have been a couple of short story tasters – Pros and Cons (here) and The Shell Game (here).

Action, humour – not always on the mark, a bit hit and miss at times, pace, recurring characters that I’m enjoying the banter and inter-play between and a plot consisting of art robberies around various European locations and a prison break out among other things.

Some gentle teasing and ribbing between the two-main characters, they get to play a married couple here. Will their relationship progress further in the future or will Kate play hard to get whilst Nick by turn annoys and intrigues her? More giant bars of Toblerone and I reckon he’s in with a chance!

Not a book I will remember in any great detail in a year’s time, but by then I will probably be reading and enjoying a fourth adventure.

Plenty of room for these types of books in  my reading, not everything needs to attain never-to-be-forgotten status. All good and yes, I'd definitely read more from the pair either singly or jointly.

Good not great, enjoyable without excelling.

4 from 5

Another Net Galley read.