By David Riley Bertsch River of No Return: A Jake Trent Novel [Hardcover]

Jake Trent #2

by David Riley Bertsch

High season is coming to an end, and fishing guide Jake Trent suddenly has some time on his hands. As the ex-lawyer ponders rekindling his romance with park ranger Noelle Kimpton, a surprise call from a long-lost love lights up his phone. It’s been years since law school graduation, when Jake’s last seen Divya Navaysam. Now a DC lobbyist, Divya wants Jake to come to Washington for a consulting job—immediately. Meanwhile, back in Jackson, Jake’s best friend and occasional employee, JP, is dealing with his own romantic woes. After years of bad luck in love, JP has fallen for Esma. But after a perfect summer, JP’s new girlfriend is now back in her native Mexico—and before long, she seems to have gone off the grid completely. When local police offer little help, a distraught JP turns to Jake. To find Esma, Jake must navigate a heated relationship with his ex-flame in Washington. Jake’s renegade investigation leads him to a remote cabin in Idaho—and a series of discoveries that point to a conspiracy bigger than anything anyone could have imagined.

Genres: Mystery

Unknown Binding

First published August 5, 2014

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll go ahead and say it. I'm a Jake Trent fan now. This is the first book I have read with this character. I'll go back and read the first book while I am waiting on the next one to come out.
There are a few interesting story lines here. At first they seem a little far fetched for this backwoods type tale but they come together so well.
All the characters are so deep that you can even smell the dog when he is being discussed.
The background of Jake is touched on a little in this one. Not having read the first book didn't hurt my reading experience and Jake seems like he needs some mystery anyway.
I like the fallibility in Jake as well. Not everything he does is perfect and precise. He makes mistakes, he's rusty and out of practice. He's also not a killing machine like so many other ex-military/now retired characters that are written about today.
Coupling the story with serene backdrops and peaceful settings brings a level of humanity to this story that helps connect the reader.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe a 2.5! I enjoyed the Montana/Yellowstone settings but the whole China storyline was a bit far fetched. Maybe if I had read the #1 I would have been more invested in the international spy angle?? That said all of the characters were interesting and I did want to hear more about them.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jake Trent is a fisherman living in Jackson Hole who has a background as a government operative. Some of the characters were a little weak but the story moved along. Would have been a four star except for a couple of the characters.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was ok but it sounded exactly like what I love but it was just okay.

[Roger Scherping · Rating 3 out of 5]

My main problem with this book is that the plot does not progress through increasing drama to a climax and resolution. It bounces along with minor points or multiple mini-climaxes getting resolved and leading to the next issue.

The book doesn't do a good job of building any real drama. The section about the rescue of Esma was well written and gripping, but that's about it for any real excitement.

I also found the plot to be both confusing and difficult to accept. It was not very believable and was not helped by the lack of defined progress to a dramatic conclusion.

There is way too much detail on the scenery, fly fishing, and the large volume of coffee Jake drinks. And why did the author have two characters named Layle? It's a very uncommon name, so the reader naturally assumes, at least briefly, that they are the same person, which just adds to the confusion.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up at the library because the author is from my home town and went to the same colleges I did. He now lives in Jackson Wyoming and works as a professional fly-fishing guide. I wanted to see how his life has turned out and where his life experiences have led him.

The lead character, Jake Trent, is an interesting fellow, former CIA now "retired" from the assassination game. Though his skills are somewhat rusty, he puts them to use for the greater good in finding lost people and foiling international plots.

Entertaining. Some parts are uneven. Were we told how the police chief died in China? What exactly happened at the end? "She's safe" doesn't quite do it for me, after devoting 10.5 hours of listening time.

[Eileenjp · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not sure if three stars is to high of a rating for this book. It was well written and at times I thought it was a good story, at other times I found it hard to follow. It jumped from story line to story line so quickly I was at times confused. At other times it would discribed what felt like mundane actions in such detail that I found it boring and wondering what it had to do with the story at all. I don't know if I would recommend this book. If you have read this author before and enjoyed his writing style, I would think you would enjoy this book as well. If this is the first book by the author that you are thinking of reading, I probably would not recommend it.

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought it would be fun to read a story, which takes place in Jackson Hole Wyoming. I have been there several times and love the area. But I was disappointed in the story. I won’t be reading anything from David Riley Bertsch in the future.

[Steve Payne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fast read. I like the main character Jake Trent but there are some huge wholes in the plot and the reader is forced to buy into some extremely unreasonable coincidences to make the whole thing work. I thought the ending was somewhat less than satisfying.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somehow Jake Trent just didn't measure up to my other fishing guide/whodunnit heros. Maybe too much attention to trivial details and not enough actual logistics. Maybe the whacked out nut job senator from Idaho gave me pause..

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the landscape of Wyoming and Idaho in which this mystery is set. This second book in the series holds together better than #1. Given the current political climate, the plot seems even more reasonable. Read it to find out what I mean.

Looking forward to more about Jake Trent...

[Miriam Kahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thriller through and through.

Nano gps is the newest way to track people. Add a way to control them, or kill them, using the gizmo and you have a bone chilling race to obtain the technology and prevent more deaths.

A breathless thriller for a long afternoon

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid- but quick read

[Chris Conley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. And, oh boy, yet another series for me to follow. I started with this one, the second, but I don't think I was at a disadvantage. I will, however, be getting the first one asap.

[Kevin Aldrich · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good mystery/suspense novel. My first Jake Trent/David Riley Bertsch. I'm going to get more at the library and check them out.

[David Cisneros · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the story the locations and the character jake Trent. Will look for another.

[Deane Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable story. a couple places of inconsistency - like what happened to the body guard last seen scouting where Jake had hidden by the lamp post? Nice descriptions and interesting plot.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started well. I had not read the first one,but that didn't matter too much. The Chinese part seemed a bit far fetched. I liked the character of the buddy and the dog. Not bad.

[Bobby Brundage · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent