Kill the Messenger

Rating:
Summary: Road Kill
Review: Seriously, folks, this latest from T.H. veered off the highway and plunged over a steep cliff. Admittedly there are some great little characters (Eta & Obidia Jones), and bunches of clever, 'speedy' repartee, but on the whole this trip is 2nd-class, cliched, contrived, and relies totally on a paint-by-numbers, formulaic plot. By the end of the story,(which crashed into a predictable twist that was about as curly as a chopstick), I had rolled my eyes so many times I couldn't see straight any more.

T.H.'s previous books, (apart from the early mushy ones), were definitely of a better standard, with more depth and characters that breathed substance. Ironically though, the shallowness of this book was entirely appropriate for the location in the City of Plastic Angels.

In spite of my bad-mouthing this book, I look forward to the next one from T.H., I just hope the vehicle isn't a write-off.
(And please, T.H., do yourself a favour and get a better editor.
This book had a shocking amount of editing errors - a real slap-dash effort.)


Rating:
Summary: A page turner
Review: This is a fast paced page turner. It starts with the murder of a lawyer. And then follows the parrallel stories of Detective Parker, who is working the homicide. And the Damon brothers, who have not had an easy life...and it is not about to get easier. Jace Damon is the target of a blackmailer and is running from the police. The plot takes a number of interesting twists. It was written in such a manner, that I had no clue who was being backmailed until the the author reveals the identity in a the last few pages of the novel.

Rating:
Summary: A rip-roaring read!
Review: Turn up the lights and curl up by the fire for a rip-roaring read. Tami Hoag has crafted a roller-coaster crime thriller with well-developed characters and a fastpaced plot. The messenger of the title is J.C.(Jace)Damon, a bike courier who is finishing the last drop of the day when someone comes very close to killing him. Jace has a package of negatives which someone badly wants. He spends the rest of the novel on the run, trying to protect his younger brother Tyler, aided and abetted by the Chen family in Chinatown where he had taken refuge from Children Protective services when his mother died.

Also in pursuit of Jace are some dysfunctional LAPD detectives including Kev Parker who was bumped down in rank after an earlier case of his went up in smoke during trial, embarrassing the ADA who now has it in for Kev. A couple of other high profile detectives want to take Kev's case from him and Internal Affairs is hot on his trail.

The plot takes a number of interesting twists. I dare you to figure out the villain who is being backmailed until the the author reveals the identity in a shootout in the last few pages. In fact, if I have one complaint about this novel, it is that the villain comes as too much of a surprise. Given the story up to that point,the ending seems a bit incongruent with the rest of the plot but Hoag does a good job of making it seem plausible. All in all, an excellent book.