Review: Bark of the Night by David Rosenfelt

Format: Hardcover
Pub Date: July 16, 2019
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Length: 291 pages
POV: First, present
FTC: Review copy courtesy of the publisher

I've read Rosenfelt's Doug Brock series, but hadn't tried his Andy Carpenter series. It is even more sarcastic than the Brock books, which given that the other series is about a police detective seems unlikely, but it's the truth. Apparently, nothing is more sarcastic than an almost retired defense attorney.

The cover, featuring a very cute French Bulldog, might mislead readers into thinking that this book is a cozy mystery: it's not. It's a thriller about organized crime, with a lots of brutal murders.

The dog angle IS delightful, though. Truman, the bulldog in question, is taken to a vet to be put down, but the vet has suspicions. So he scans the dog, finds out that the person who brought the dog in wasn't the owner, and contacts the one person involved in the criminal justice system he knows who also loves dogs: Andy Carpenter. The dog is the key to the entire mystery, and not just a prop.

This is the most sarcastic protagonist I've read in years, and I really enjoyed it despite the present tense. It hits that sweet spot between cozy and hard boiled that so few seem to get right. Recommended.

My Grade: B

The Blurb: 

When defense lawyer Andy Carpenter’s veterinarian asks to speak to him privately at the checkup of his golden retriever, Tara, the last thing Andy expects is Truman. Tiny, healthy, French bulldog Truman was dropped off days ago with instructions to be euthanized by a man everyone thought was his owner. But now the owner is nowhere to be found. 

Andy is furious. Who would want to euthanize a perfectly healthy dog with no explanation? He is willing to whisk Truman away to the Tara Foundation, the dog-rescue organization which is Andy’s true passion. They will find a home for Truman. But that’s not all the vet tells Andy. Thanks to Truman’s chip, it’s discovered that the man wasn’t Truman’s owner at all . . . Truman's real owner has been murdered.

It’s now up to Andy – with help from his loyal sidekick Tara, Truman and the rest of the gang – to solve this case. In the latest in the popular Andy Carpenter mystery series, David Rosenfelt’s charmingly clever wit and love of dogs are back and better than ever.

Review: Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone (thriller/mystery)

Format: ebook, hardcover, trade paperback
Pub Date: August 1, 2018
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (Amazon)
Length: 282 pages in the trade ARC
POV: 1st person, present tense
FTC: review copy courtesy of the author/publisher at RT18

For those who don't know, Victoria Helen Stone is the alter ego of romance novelist Victoria Dahl. Jane Doe is NOT A ROMANCE. It's also written in first person, present tense, which yes, I know, I usually avoid like the plague. But if you read mysteries and thrillers, and if you follow Victoria Dahl on Twitter or have read her romances, you will probably enjoy this delicious book of revenge.

Reading this book was almost therapeutic for me. It’s like Victoria took all of the rage I’ve felt since Nov 2016, all of the disgust I’ve felt for mansplaining dudes on the internet, all of my frustration watching people make excuses for abusive dickwads, and made an outlet for it in the form of a book.

If you've ever watched her toying with the birth control trolls on Twitter, this book is a lot like that, but taken to a darker extreme. Jane, our narrator, is a sociopath, manipulating an emotional abuser while on a quest to ruin his life the way he ruined hers. She's used to analyzing other people's emotions in an attempt to mimic them, so she can parse every abusive manipulation Steven tries to use. The negging. The control. The digs about her appearance.

It's incredibly creepy watching as Steven tries to manipulate her. It's spelled out. But it's also kind of satisfying watching as Jane pretends to react the way he expects while also plotting how to use each and every one of his abusive tactics against him. She's dissecting his game in real time. It's one of the reasons why present tense works so very well. Because the reader is following along as Steven is attempting to manipulate her with Jane explaining what he's doing as he's doing it. It's incredibly effective.

For me, the suspense was wondering just how far Jane was going to go. Not even she is sure until the end exactly what she's capable of.

Hats off to the author for putting together such a raw and powerful book. Honestly the best book I've read in ages.

My grade: A

The Blurb:

A double life with a single purpose: revenge.
Jane’s days at a Midwest insurance company are perfectly ordinary. She blends in well, unremarkably pretty in her floral-print dresses and extra efficient at her low-level job. She’s just the kind of woman middle manager Steven Hepsworth likes—meek, insecure, and willing to defer to a man. No one has any idea who Jane really is. Least of all Steven.
But plain Jane is hiding something. And Steven’s bringing out the worst in her.
Nothing can distract Jane from going straight for his heart: allowing herself to be seduced into Steven’s bed, to insinuate herself into his career and his family, and to expose all his dirty secrets. It’s time for Jane to dig out everything that matters to Steven. So she can take it all away.
Just as he did to her.

Hump Day Movie: Joy Ride

It's been a long time since I've done a Hump Day movie post. This time, I thought I'd stick close to home.

Here it is: the one and only movie Hubs is in. It's just a few seconds. You don't see his face and he is uncredited. But he is there in the background, driving a truck in BFE Nevada. For which he made an obscene amount of money per hour. No wonder budgets are so high on movies.

His favorite part was the fact that a coworker was also on set driving a truck. But Hubs was the only one to make the finished film. There may have been some immature ribbing about that, too. 

Random fact: the working title of this movie was Squelch. What is a squelch? In this context, it has to do with a CB radio. After asking Hubs to explain it to me 3 different times, I still don't understand exactly what it is. Nothing new there. Which is probably why they changed the name, come to think of it.