The Repo (Jack Merchant & Sarah Ballard Novels)

Rating:
Summary: Seagoing thriller features new pair
Review: Boston writer Bill Eidson delivers a taut page-turner as former DEA agent Jack Merchant teams up with repo-woman Sarah Ballard to find a missing sailboat and its two deadbeat owners. Jack and Sarah are a rough match - both damaged by murder; she in the self-defense death of her abusive boyfriend, he in a Florida bust gone bad that killed another agent and ended his career - but it works. Their hesitations, withdrawals and unspoken longings, without being overdone, manage to give them a vulnerability to balance the requisite toughness. And it's a toughness that will be called upon more than once in the course of a story that builds into mayhem, greed and murder.

Living hand-to-mouth at a Charlestown dock on his 40-foot sloop "Lila," beset by enemies, both local and Floridian (relatives of the dead DEA agent), he readily agrees to help Sarah with the boat repo, despite a twinge of fellow feeling for the deadbeats. But these are rich debtors; young, with good jobs, a fancy house and no good reason to run. But following their trail up through Portsmouth and Portland, Me., it becomes clear that running is what they're doing. Eidson succeeds in bringing the pair to life during the investigation, without switching to their point of view (except for the prologue).

And as the mystery of their disappearance deepens, and the repo team closes in, Eidson introduces a real bad guy, a rich, twisted techno-geek with a disgusted, but avaricious protector. Between this tycoon's sick proclivities, and the murderous intentions of Jack's Florida and Boston enemies, and a few surprises along the way, the action gets fast, furious and bloody and stays that way until the very end when Eidson neatly ties up all the loose ends and sets things up for the next book in the series.

Jack and Sarah - prickly, difficult and talented - make a dynamic start in a series that should win Eidson new fans.

Rating:
Summary: Good Start to a Promising New Series Pair
Review: Finding a mystery novel that is based on a truly fresh and engaging premise is a little like winning the lottery: it's theoretically possible but the odds against success are astronomically high. Be that as it may, Bill Eidson has beaten those odds in his latest thriller, THE REPO. Ex-DEA Agent Jack Merchant, in forced retirement after a series of operations gone sour, is simply marking time aboard his boat('Lila')and staying one step ahead of the creditors, ex-cons and former law enforcement associates out for either the proverbial "pound of flesh" or just a little old fashioned payback.

One step ahead, that is, until his old flame Sarah Ballard drops by for a chat. It seems that Sarah is now running her daddy's boat repossession business and, guess what? One of Sarah's biggest clients (MassBank) "holds the paper" on Jack's boat. Behind on a few payments, Merchant can agree to help Sarah locate the Baylors - a husband and wife team with ties to MassBank who have skipped out with their yacht and an undisclosed sum of money - or lose the 'Lila'.

Intrigued by the possibility of doing something meaningful again, and more than a little interested in spending time with Sarah, Merchant agrees to help out. But while Merchant and Ballard comb the harbors and coastline from Boston to Maine looking for the Baylors, they soon discover that they are not the only ones in on the hunt for the missing couple. With twists and turns galore, the plot of THE REPO will keep you on your toes - not to mention clinging to your life-vest for all it's worth - from start to finish. While a few of the connections made in the story are about as murky as the water in a cove after a storm, Eidson generally keeps things sailing smoothly along and the reader will be so wrapped up in the action that he or she won't be bothered too much by the few stretches of rough water encountered along the way.

The real strength of this book lies in its cast of eccentric (and realistic) minor characters and, most especially, in its sensitive and mature portrayal of Jack Merchant and Sarah Ballard. The depiction of the relationship between these two eminently interesting characters is drawn with authenticity and restraint and, for the most part anyway, without the kind of sappy, self-indulgent melodrama that pervades this sort of thing in most lesser novels in the genre. The problems that the two have at the beginning of the novel are essentially the problems they have at its close. Those issues haven't miraculously disappeared in the course of the book's 312 pages. Thanks to Eidson's skillful handling of his material in this first offering, there are still more depths to be sounded here in subsequent books in the (projected) series. (James Clar - MYSTERY NEWS)




Rating:
Summary: Delightful maritime mystery
Review: Forced into an early retirement, former DEA agent Jack Merchant wastes time passing aimlessly sailing in the waters off Charleston, Massachusetts. He is bored and knows he is stuck in a watery rut, but though he loathes what has become of him, Jack seems unable to do anything but languish in self-pity.

Repo woman Sarah Ballard offers Jack a deal that if he fails to accept he will lose his sloop the Lila as she possesses the past due bank notes. Sarah knows Jack from an encounter five years ago and uses his debt as a blackmail tool to obtain his help as her own business teeters on the brink of failure. In one week, MassBank demands she locate former Veep Paul Baylor and his wife, who apparently embezzled bank cash or else. Sarah and Jack begin the quest to find the Baylors, but soon end up in the same knotted mess that has engulfed their prey.

The sleuthing is well done and exciting and that alone should hook the audience, as the investigation is as complex as it gets because it seems so straightforward and simple. However, the key to this delightful maritime mystery is the cast. Not only do the lead duo and the vanished pair come across as genuine, especially THE REPO woman, but the support crew provides depth whether they are in Massachusetts or not. Bill Eidson writes a powerful tale and readers will demand more rough sailing from this talented author.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Delightful maritime mystery
Review: Forced into an early retirement, former DEA agent Jack Merchant wastes time passing aimlessly sailing in the waters off Charleston, Massachusetts. He is bored and knows he is stuck in a watery rut, but though he loathes what has become of him, Jack seems unable to do anything but languish in self-pity.

Repo woman Sarah Ballard offers Jack a deal that if he fails to accept he will lose his sloop the Lila as she possesses the past due bank notes. Sarah knows Jack from an encounter five years ago and uses his debt as a blackmail tool to obtain his help as her own business teeters on the brink of failure. In one week, MassBank demands she locate former Veep Paul Baylor and his wife, who apparently embezzled bank cash or else. Sarah and Jack begin the quest to find the Baylors, but soon end up in the same knotted mess that has engulfed their prey.

The sleuthing is well done and exciting and that alone should hook the audience, as the investigation is as complex as it gets because it seems so straightforward and simple. However, the key to this delightful maritime mystery is the cast. Not only do the lead duo and the vanished pair come across as genuine, especially THE REPO woman, but the support crew provides depth whether they are in Massachusetts or not. Bill Eidson writes a powerful tale and readers will demand more rough sailing from this talented author.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: what a messy writing that ruined a supposed to be good one
Review: the first half of this novel looked quite promising but then, the construction and the structure of the plot, writing and all the other parts gradually deteriorated into a very messy one. it's like a piece of american quilt with lots of blocks to be sewn together randomly and zigzagged to and fro. bill eidson is supposed to be a good writer but it seems that he just wrote the first half and then be completed by another lousy writer. i also noted that on one of the very front pages there is a line:
in memory of mary and bill eidson" what's going on? bill eidson and his wife got a boat accident or what? kinda worrys me a lot. tried to reach bill eidson's website to verify but his webpages are all outdated. what's going on? but this repo one is indeed a messy turned-out. i am loyal to eidson, so i just barely forced myself to finish it and just don't quite like it.