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Janet Maple #1
To Catch a Bad Guy
Janet Maple's stellar career ended with a lay off and her boyfriend of five years told her that he wants to be just friends. When she lands a job at one of New York’s premier boutique investment firms, Janet begins to hope that her luck is finally turning for the better. Not only is she happy with her new paycheck, but things also seem to be looking up on the personal front, as the company’s handsome attorney expresses keen interest in Janet. However, her euphoria is short-lived, as Janet soon discovers alarming facts about her new employer’s business tactics. When her boss dismisses her suspicions as groundless, Janet finds herself confiding to a cute IT engineer, Dean Snider. The closer she gets to Dean, the more Janet is tempted to break her rule of not dating co-workers, but what she doesn’t realize is that everything she knows about Dean, including his occupation and even his name, is a lie.
Dennis Walker is a top-notch white collar crime investigator who will stop at nothing to put culprits away. When an opportunity for an undercover assignment at one of New York’s premier boutique broker dealers comes up, Dennis jumps at the chance, adopting a persona of geeky IT engineer, Dean Snider. While he may be an ace at his job, years of experience fail him when Dennis meets Janet Maple and finds himself torn between his professional obligations and his personal desires. Will he have to choose between his feelings and duty, or will he find a way to satisfy both?
Dennis Walker is a top-notch white collar crime investigator who will stop at nothing to put culprits away. When an opportunity for an undercover assignment at one of New York’s premier boutique broker dealers comes up, Dennis jumps at the chance, adopting a persona of geeky IT engineer, Dean Snider. While he may be an ace at his job, years of experience fail him when Dennis meets Janet Maple and finds himself torn between his professional obligations and his personal desires. Will he have to choose between his feelings and duty, or will he find a way to satisfy both?
307 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 10, 2012
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About the author
Marie Astor
17 books240 followersMarie Astor is New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author. Marie is a die-hard romantic, which is why she loves writing romantic suspense and contemporary romance. In her spare time, Marie enjoys being adventurous out-of-doors. She often gets new story ideas while she is hiking up a mountain or trying to avoid bumping into a tree while skiing.
Marie loves hearing from readers and always answers all of her emails personally. Visit Marie at www.marieastor.com to learn more about Marie’s new book releases and events.
Marie Astor
Marie loves hearing from readers and always answers all of her emails personally. Visit Marie at www.marieastor.com to learn more about Marie’s new book releases and events.
Marie Astor
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 609 reviews
gave-up-on
February 8, 2013First, Ms Astor; if you read your reviews: Take it with a grain of salt; I love all authors (which includes you) because I love that they have the drive and vision to achieve something that I have never had the time or patience for (publishing a work of art). It's all art, even if I don't appreciate it, and you are an artist my dear. That's my disclaimer. Here's my review.
I read the reviews *after* I started the book. My bad. The most common thing I saw was the comment "An intelligent read."
I've done a lot of reading, but typically if I want an intelligent read, I'm not going to run for chick lit or romantic suspense. I'll go for one of my many psychology workbooks or start wiki jumping. That's my version of an intelligent read. I don't read chick lit for broadening my horizons in the trading and brokerage world. I read it for fluff and love stories, things that detract from murders and rapes in the real world. Perhaps that seems shallow of me. It probably is. But, to be fair, I'll read anything with words as long as it keeps my attention. This book did not keep my attention.
This one made of brain hurt. So much jargon, so little entertainment. It involves a main character who seems to be intelligent, I'll give you that much. The author seems to have a way with words -- way too many words. In two pages we bounced between present day, to her years in law school, to her first kiss in high school -- none of it really relevant to the ongoing plot. We gather that she's frumpy and insecure, that she's nervous and quiet (how does a nervous, insecure person become a lawyer, by the way?) -- and insecure. And did I mention insecure? She's really insecure.
Whatever. It just didn't do anything for me. Not a quick moving story, didn't pull me in, definitely didn't make me come back for more.
I read the reviews *after* I started the book. My bad. The most common thing I saw was the comment "An intelligent read."
I've done a lot of reading, but typically if I want an intelligent read, I'm not going to run for chick lit or romantic suspense. I'll go for one of my many psychology workbooks or start wiki jumping. That's my version of an intelligent read. I don't read chick lit for broadening my horizons in the trading and brokerage world. I read it for fluff and love stories, things that detract from murders and rapes in the real world. Perhaps that seems shallow of me. It probably is. But, to be fair, I'll read anything with words as long as it keeps my attention. This book did not keep my attention.
This one made of brain hurt. So much jargon, so little entertainment. It involves a main character who seems to be intelligent, I'll give you that much. The author seems to have a way with words -- way too many words. In two pages we bounced between present day, to her years in law school, to her first kiss in high school -- none of it really relevant to the ongoing plot. We gather that she's frumpy and insecure, that she's nervous and quiet (how does a nervous, insecure person become a lawyer, by the way?) -- and insecure. And did I mention insecure? She's really insecure.
Whatever. It just didn't do anything for me. Not a quick moving story, didn't pull me in, definitely didn't make me come back for more.
February 20, 2019
To Catch a Bad Guy by Marie Astor is the first book in the Janet Maple mystery series. In this first book of the series Janet has just begun a new job at a top investment firm when she finds her new employers aren't quite following the law. Another new hire at the firm is the cute Dean Snider who works in the IT dept, Dean however is undercover investigating the firm. This book wasn't too bad overall, the flow could have used some work as the various characters were introduced and switched POVs in the beginning but once settled in it was an interesting story that I would rate at 3.5 stars.
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For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.com/
January 23, 2015
Won't be reading book 2
I tried to give this book a fair shake by reading the whole thing, and it was painful to get to the end. The main character was flighty at best. Oh, he's good looking (and he's good looking and he's good looking). Not that I'm interested in a relationship after being burned by Alex which I have to mention in my self-talk every chance I get. But wait he's with another woman and I can't help but feel a pang of jealousy even though I'm not looking for a relationship because I'm still getting over Alex. Then there are the "secrets" that are revealed to virtual strangers at every turn. And one should not forget how one and one's friends speak in such proper form because one would never speak casually with one's friends or in one's own head. The author also seems to believe that her readers are idiots. I can't count the number of times she mentioned Dean's blue-gray eyes or had to enlighten us with basic math or the fact that she reminded us who one of the main characters was by first and last name halfway through the book because we must have forgotten. (She was 27 years old, three years from 30. Wow, I never would have figured this out on my own! And Lisa's fiancee is Paul Bostoff in case you forgot his full name after 200 pages.) If I could give this zero stars, I would.
I tried to give this book a fair shake by reading the whole thing, and it was painful to get to the end. The main character was flighty at best. Oh, he's good looking (and he's good looking and he's good looking). Not that I'm interested in a relationship after being burned by Alex which I have to mention in my self-talk every chance I get. But wait he's with another woman and I can't help but feel a pang of jealousy even though I'm not looking for a relationship because I'm still getting over Alex. Then there are the "secrets" that are revealed to virtual strangers at every turn. And one should not forget how one and one's friends speak in such proper form because one would never speak casually with one's friends or in one's own head. The author also seems to believe that her readers are idiots. I can't count the number of times she mentioned Dean's blue-gray eyes or had to enlighten us with basic math or the fact that she reminded us who one of the main characters was by first and last name halfway through the book because we must have forgotten. (She was 27 years old, three years from 30. Wow, I never would have figured this out on my own! And Lisa's fiancee is Paul Bostoff in case you forgot his full name after 200 pages.) If I could give this zero stars, I would.
January 24, 2019
I am not sure where to begin with this one. It was free on Kindle? It seemed promising enough with the whole legal thriller/chick flick/white collar criminal plot? Initially I even felt I could ignore the 'sexy government agent' trope and insta-love. After all, it promised me a straight-laced heroine and nice romantic tension.
Except...not.
Reasons this book bugged me:
1. Literally all the lawyers in this book make some variation of this joke: "hahaha! Our job is to show you how to do illegal things legally!" I got so sick of it. Further, I don't care what universe these characters live in, if they graduated from the Ivy League Law Schools they keep name dropping, Janet Maple is not spending months looking for a job. And even if she did, her job prospects are not 'minimum wage store clerk' or 'hot shot assistant in-house counsel.' She would have options unless she lived under a rock and never attended a networking event in her life...which would have been a much more interesting storyline.
2. Every Freakin' Character gets a backstory and POV. But not like, a consistent POV. They get a few random paragraphs. The CEO dude gets multiple random paragraphs, mostly about how sexy he finds his wife. TMI much? I guess maybe the author was trying to make me feel sympathy for him but I could have cared less. I was bored to tears by every backstory, including the "main" couple. It just was so unnecessary.
3. The romance gets zero development. I guess future books maybe flesh the relationship out more. That actually would be great, as the story jumped right into insta-attraction with a heavy dose of insta-lust and wrapped it all up with splash insta-love. Despite the endless and boring self-analysis from the characters, they never actually thought about their relationship with one another besides general attractiveness.
4. The book lacks strong female characters. Now, I guess you could say Janet is a "smart" character, but she gets the short end of the stick here. Off-screen she might research corporate wrongdoing and put together killer reports, but on-screen she...flirts with a guy to get more information, takes her male co-worker's advice and puts on a revealing dress to get more information from a guy, whines about her ex-boyfriend, almost exclusively talks about men with her female friends, etc. etc.
The other females in the book aren't much better. If not whining/talking/lusting after men, they're gold diggers or jealous girlfriends. The only possible exception is the mother of the bride, who makes random digs about people's weight that made literally zero sense in relation to the rest of the book.
5. Finally, I think the book just tries to be too much. It is a legal thriller...no! It is a paper trail of corporate espionage...no! It is a spy story...no! It is a chick flick...no! It is a psychological thriller about characters....nah, I've got nothing. I can't think of any reason to excuse the atrocity which was the John's POV.
Despite the promising summary, not worth the time.
September 6, 2016
Weak plot, dialogue and one dimensional (but attractive) characters. The most offensive is the author promoting the sexist idea that women should marry for money and focus on an enormous engagement ring. When a dog hasn't been O-U-T all day, you don't have a conversation, feed him treats, change your clothes and then take the walk.
January 6, 2016
Marie Astor has written a series of novels starring Janet Maple. This is the first one, "To Catch a Bad Guy" and this novel introduces the characters of Janet and Dennis who it appears are in the subsequent novels.
Janet, after several years working in the prosecution's investigative division is lay-offed by her then boyfriend of several years. Janet goes to work with her old childhood best friend as general counsel at an investment firm. While working there Janet feels as if some things are amiss with the running of the firm, however, when she meets Dennis, an IT technician at the firm she starts to realize that her initial feelings about the firm are very true.
First the positives. Ms. Astor explanation about IPOs and hedge funds shows that she definitely has some background in these financial matters. I know that some reviewers said they found typos and grammatical issues in the novel, but I honestly didn't find that in this novel.
However, I ended up ranking this only two and half stars since there was some definite issues with this novel.
1) The most important issue for me and why I ended up disliking this novel is that though this was touted as a Janet Maple novel, it really should have been called Janet Maple and other people. The points of view for this novel changed constantly. Sometimes it was Janet, Dennis, Lisa (Janet's best friend growing up) or one of the Bostoffs (heads of the investment firm).
In the end I realized that the main point of view readers received in this novel was actually Jon Bostoff. We get to hear more about his upbringing, his insecurities, his life than we did Janet's. If the novel was purporting him as the main character that would be fine, but this was supposedly a Janet Maple novel and I found myself getting distracted by the constant back and forth between characters.
2)The novel was often quite stilted when it came to dialogue between characters. I don't know why most novels these days have characters just thinking thoughts all of the time. When you get through the novel and realize that most of the characters often do not talk to each other it is quite maddening.
3)The attraction between Janet and Dennis was just not there for me. I could tell the author was trying to set it up that way but I honestly did not feel any sparks between them based on the writing. Frankly I really didn't care for the character of Dennis and hope that Janet stays away from him in the next novel.
4) There needs to be more descriptions of things besides people's clothing and hairstyles. This novel takes place in New York. Well I didn't get that from reading this novel. This novel could have taken place anywhere in the world due to the author not providing enough descriptions.
In the end though this novel definitely has an interesting premise I don't think I will buy any more novels featuring this character.
Janet, after several years working in the prosecution's investigative division is lay-offed by her then boyfriend of several years. Janet goes to work with her old childhood best friend as general counsel at an investment firm. While working there Janet feels as if some things are amiss with the running of the firm, however, when she meets Dennis, an IT technician at the firm she starts to realize that her initial feelings about the firm are very true.
First the positives. Ms. Astor explanation about IPOs and hedge funds shows that she definitely has some background in these financial matters. I know that some reviewers said they found typos and grammatical issues in the novel, but I honestly didn't find that in this novel.
However, I ended up ranking this only two and half stars since there was some definite issues with this novel.
1) The most important issue for me and why I ended up disliking this novel is that though this was touted as a Janet Maple novel, it really should have been called Janet Maple and other people. The points of view for this novel changed constantly. Sometimes it was Janet, Dennis, Lisa (Janet's best friend growing up) or one of the Bostoffs (heads of the investment firm).
In the end I realized that the main point of view readers received in this novel was actually Jon Bostoff. We get to hear more about his upbringing, his insecurities, his life than we did Janet's. If the novel was purporting him as the main character that would be fine, but this was supposedly a Janet Maple novel and I found myself getting distracted by the constant back and forth between characters.
2)The novel was often quite stilted when it came to dialogue between characters. I don't know why most novels these days have characters just thinking thoughts all of the time. When you get through the novel and realize that most of the characters often do not talk to each other it is quite maddening.
3)The attraction between Janet and Dennis was just not there for me. I could tell the author was trying to set it up that way but I honestly did not feel any sparks between them based on the writing. Frankly I really didn't care for the character of Dennis and hope that Janet stays away from him in the next novel.
4) There needs to be more descriptions of things besides people's clothing and hairstyles. This novel takes place in New York. Well I didn't get that from reading this novel. This novel could have taken place anywhere in the world due to the author not providing enough descriptions.
In the end though this novel definitely has an interesting premise I don't think I will buy any more novels featuring this character.
May 20, 2013
This was a good book by Marie. The story of Dennis and Janet is good. My only problem was that sometimes I thought the explanations on some background things was too drawn out and I found I started to lose interest. Other than that I enjoyed it and am starting book 2
March 19, 2015
There's bad writing...and then there's the scene where the main character feels like she has to justify her breakfast oatmeal to the cute guy in the office kitchen by saying she's on a diet. Must. Stop. Downloading. Free. Books.
November 23, 2020
Trader secrets
The book was slow moving and not very exciting for me. I just couldn't get into the concept of the story.
The book was slow moving and not very exciting for me. I just couldn't get into the concept of the story.
April 11, 2019
The cover is misleading. The book is not about a dog.
September 25, 2018
Such a fun read! Highly recommend!
Reviewed by: Mrs. N
My Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by: Mrs. N
My Rating: 5 stars
July 28, 2015
Janet Maple worked for the DA's office after finishing law school. After her grandfather had been swindled out of his money Janet wanted to catch the bad guys so the DA's office was just the place she could do that. She loved her work there and everything was going well until her boss (who she was dating) took her research and presented it as his. Then he broke up with her. It gets worse for her when she is downsized and out of a job.
Her best friend from school, Lisa, who is also a lawyer, called and offered her a job. Janet didn't have any alternative but to accept the position but she didn't like working for Lisa because of her bossy attitude. Once in the job Janet sees that all the legal work is done by an outside legal firm so she has nothing to do all day.
When she does get an assignment, she notices some suspicious transactions that she investigates. In the meantime, Janet has taken an interest in the new IT engineer, Dean Snider. She eventually shares her suspicions with him, not knowing that Dean is really Dennis Walker, an undercover agent investigating the company.
I loved this story. It had lots of mystery with some romance (that didn't go smoothly) so it kept me on my toes to try to figure out who was a good guy and who was a bad guy. I was actually glad that I guessed wrong.
The characters were great. Dean/Dennis was excellent at his job (Dennis' job) playing his undercover role perfectly. Janet was a skilled investigator after her time in the DA's office. She was smart and funny but not very confident in herself. She was so worried about keeping her job that she let Lisa treat her like a lowly underling. Other than that, Janet is a nice person who wants to fix something when she sees a wrong. Lisa was not a nice person. She was lazy and treated people badly but that added interest to the story.
If you like romantic suspense with humor added, you'll love this book.
Her best friend from school, Lisa, who is also a lawyer, called and offered her a job. Janet didn't have any alternative but to accept the position but she didn't like working for Lisa because of her bossy attitude. Once in the job Janet sees that all the legal work is done by an outside legal firm so she has nothing to do all day.
When she does get an assignment, she notices some suspicious transactions that she investigates. In the meantime, Janet has taken an interest in the new IT engineer, Dean Snider. She eventually shares her suspicions with him, not knowing that Dean is really Dennis Walker, an undercover agent investigating the company.
I loved this story. It had lots of mystery with some romance (that didn't go smoothly) so it kept me on my toes to try to figure out who was a good guy and who was a bad guy. I was actually glad that I guessed wrong.
The characters were great. Dean/Dennis was excellent at his job (Dennis' job) playing his undercover role perfectly. Janet was a skilled investigator after her time in the DA's office. She was smart and funny but not very confident in herself. She was so worried about keeping her job that she let Lisa treat her like a lowly underling. Other than that, Janet is a nice person who wants to fix something when she sees a wrong. Lisa was not a nice person. She was lazy and treated people badly but that added interest to the story.
If you like romantic suspense with humor added, you'll love this book.
August 18, 2012
To Catch a Bad Guy is an engaging and thrilling romantic suspense read. Janet Maple just started her new job at NY's premier boutique firm: her new paycheck is great, and the handsome company-retained attorney has the hots for her. Just as Janet is about to start enjoying her new life, she begins to notice alarming facts about her new employer's business practices. Hushed down by her boss, Janet turns to the cute IT engineer, Dean Snider for comfort. As the two share their misgivings about their employer, Janet feels an undeniable connection between her and Dean. Just as she is about to allow herself to act on her attraction to him, Janet makes a discovery about Dean that changes her view of him completely. Will she ever forgive him? And what is she to do about her employment situation?
To Catch a Bad Guy caught my attention from the first page and kept me reading until the last line. In addition to the sizzling chemistry between Janet and Dean, the author creates enticing supporting characters. I loved the fact that the bad guys were not just the bad guys, but their motives and thoughts were vividly shown. I am a big fan of Janet Evanovich and Jennifer Crusie, and I loved to Catch a Bad Guy!
To Catch a Bad Guy caught my attention from the first page and kept me reading until the last line. In addition to the sizzling chemistry between Janet and Dean, the author creates enticing supporting characters. I loved the fact that the bad guys were not just the bad guys, but their motives and thoughts were vividly shown. I am a big fan of Janet Evanovich and Jennifer Crusie, and I loved to Catch a Bad Guy!
July 1, 2013
The basic storyline of this book was ok: Janet is fired from the DA's office and lands a job as in-house counsel at a financial securities firm. The firm is conducting shady business practices and Janet teams up with an under cover Treasury investigator to bring the bad guys to justice.
Overall, the book was...not good. The story was anti-climatic, a little boring, and the author needs an editor. The dialog was cheesy and awkward. People don't talk to each other like that in real life. I found it amusing, and it's not supposed to be.
I came to the conclusion that the author thinks her readers are a little bit dumb. Why else would she mention that the main character was fired from the DA's office 10 times in the first half of the book? She also seems to think that we aren't able to remember character names and uses them continually. "Lisa's behavior was reminiscent of all those teenage dates Janet had endured, with Lisa flirting away with the very guys Lisa had supposedly invited as Janet's dates." or "'Welcome to the family, Janet.' Tom's glass clinked against Janet's and Lisa's. 'Forgive me if I sound too forward, Janet, but I do so much work for Bostoff Securities that I feel part of the team.'" Etc etc. It got ridiculous.
I can't recommend this book to anyone.
Overall, the book was...not good. The story was anti-climatic, a little boring, and the author needs an editor. The dialog was cheesy and awkward. People don't talk to each other like that in real life. I found it amusing, and it's not supposed to be.
I came to the conclusion that the author thinks her readers are a little bit dumb. Why else would she mention that the main character was fired from the DA's office 10 times in the first half of the book? She also seems to think that we aren't able to remember character names and uses them continually. "Lisa's behavior was reminiscent of all those teenage dates Janet had endured, with Lisa flirting away with the very guys Lisa had supposedly invited as Janet's dates." or "'Welcome to the family, Janet.' Tom's glass clinked against Janet's and Lisa's. 'Forgive me if I sound too forward, Janet, but I do so much work for Bostoff Securities that I feel part of the team.'" Etc etc. It got ridiculous.
I can't recommend this book to anyone.
September 29, 2013
I did enjoy this book by Marie Astor. I found it easy-going and entertaining, something that made me feel relaxed after my previous read - a thriller.
The storyline was original and interesting that took us to the field of legal work. The characters were very 'pleasant', although I must admit it lacked any serious character development. However, I liked the two main characters, Janet and Dean, and even kind of understood the reasons behind the 'weaknesses' of the 'bad guy'. Unfortunately the side characters were rather poor. For example, Lisa, who was supposed to be an intelligent, educated lawyer, was only a spoilt, empty headed, 'good-for-nothing' creature, whose only purpose in life was to marry the son of the owner of the company.
Despite all of the faults of this book, I enjoyed the story enough to buy the sequel: 'Cathing The Bad Guy'. If you want to spend a few hours with a 'light' story, you will enjoy this book.
The storyline was original and interesting that took us to the field of legal work. The characters were very 'pleasant', although I must admit it lacked any serious character development. However, I liked the two main characters, Janet and Dean, and even kind of understood the reasons behind the 'weaknesses' of the 'bad guy'. Unfortunately the side characters were rather poor. For example, Lisa, who was supposed to be an intelligent, educated lawyer, was only a spoilt, empty headed, 'good-for-nothing' creature, whose only purpose in life was to marry the son of the owner of the company.
Despite all of the faults of this book, I enjoyed the story enough to buy the sequel: 'Cathing The Bad Guy'. If you want to spend a few hours with a 'light' story, you will enjoy this book.
October 22, 2013
this is the first book in the series
I found it was a fun read and I enjoyed Dennis
and Janet
I found it was a fun read and I enjoyed Dennis
and Janet
September 13, 2012
I received a copy of To Catch a Bad Guy in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
Janet Maple's stellar career ended with a layoff and her boyfriend of almost five years told her that he wants to be just friends. When she lands a job at one of New York's premier boutique investment firms, Janet begins to hope that her luck is finally turning for the better. Not only is she happy with her new paycheck, but things also seem to be looking up on the personal front, as the company's handsome attorney expresses keen interest in Janet. However, her euphoria is short-lived, as Janet soon discovers alarming facts about her new employer's business tactics. When her boss dismisses her suspicions as groundless, Janet finds herself confiding to a cute IT engineer, Dean Snider. The closer she gets to Dean, the more Janet is tempted to break her rule of not dating co-workers, but what she doesn't realize is that everything she knows about Dean, including his occupation and even his name, is a lie.
Dennis Walker is a top-notch white collar crime investigator who will stop at nothing to put culprits away. When an opportunity for an undercover assignment at one of New York's premier boutique broker dealers comes up, Dennis jumps at the chance, adopting a persona of geeky IT engineer, Dean Snider. While he may be an ace at his job, years of experience fail him when Dennis meets Janet Maple and finds himself torn between his professional obligations and his personal desires. Will he have to choose between his feelings and duty, or will he find a way to satisfy both?
My Review:
If it’s one thing I love, it’s a good mystery novel. I thought To Catch a Bad Guy had all the elements of intrigue, and it was hard for me to put this down! I loved Janet Maple. Sometimes she could seem to be a bit of a pushover, especially when it came to Lisa, but she was smart and determined, and made for a great MC. I liked that readers got an insight on multiple characters, but there weren’t too many and too much of their inner thoughts to become overwhelming, a major kudo to Marie Astor. There was a lot of jargon with Janet’s work, like stocks and trades at that sort of thing, which sometimes I got puzzled on, but most of the time I just felt like I was in the story with the characters and it barely tripped me up. A very solid mystery yet romance novel, and I can’t wait for the second one in the series!
**4.5 stars**
Summary:
Janet Maple's stellar career ended with a layoff and her boyfriend of almost five years told her that he wants to be just friends. When she lands a job at one of New York's premier boutique investment firms, Janet begins to hope that her luck is finally turning for the better. Not only is she happy with her new paycheck, but things also seem to be looking up on the personal front, as the company's handsome attorney expresses keen interest in Janet. However, her euphoria is short-lived, as Janet soon discovers alarming facts about her new employer's business tactics. When her boss dismisses her suspicions as groundless, Janet finds herself confiding to a cute IT engineer, Dean Snider. The closer she gets to Dean, the more Janet is tempted to break her rule of not dating co-workers, but what she doesn't realize is that everything she knows about Dean, including his occupation and even his name, is a lie.
Dennis Walker is a top-notch white collar crime investigator who will stop at nothing to put culprits away. When an opportunity for an undercover assignment at one of New York's premier boutique broker dealers comes up, Dennis jumps at the chance, adopting a persona of geeky IT engineer, Dean Snider. While he may be an ace at his job, years of experience fail him when Dennis meets Janet Maple and finds himself torn between his professional obligations and his personal desires. Will he have to choose between his feelings and duty, or will he find a way to satisfy both?
My Review:
If it’s one thing I love, it’s a good mystery novel. I thought To Catch a Bad Guy had all the elements of intrigue, and it was hard for me to put this down! I loved Janet Maple. Sometimes she could seem to be a bit of a pushover, especially when it came to Lisa, but she was smart and determined, and made for a great MC. I liked that readers got an insight on multiple characters, but there weren’t too many and too much of their inner thoughts to become overwhelming, a major kudo to Marie Astor. There was a lot of jargon with Janet’s work, like stocks and trades at that sort of thing, which sometimes I got puzzled on, but most of the time I just felt like I was in the story with the characters and it barely tripped me up. A very solid mystery yet romance novel, and I can’t wait for the second one in the series!
**4.5 stars**
April 29, 2017
I really wish I read some of these reviews before I started reading this book. After reading the synopsis I thought it would be a little bit more about solving a white collar crime, or a little bit more about something. I was already skeptical after a few pages, but decided to give it a chance. By the time I realized that the book was going nowhere, I had already invested too much time in reading the book to stop.
It was an easy read, in the sense that it required little focus. Nothing complex in the storyline, mainly because there wasn't much of a storyline. I'm still not sure if the book was supposed to be a crime solving thriller (which it wasn't), or a romance novel (which it was only to the extent of a female lead flirting with every male she meets). The structure of the narration was a bit awkward at times, flipping from a narrative that reflects Janet's thoughts and insecurities to an objective narration.
A lot of the same terms were used to describe the characters, and I didn't appreciate the redundancy. It became irritating very quickly to have the defining features of every female character as "rail thin with ___ coloured hair". That is, with the exception of Janet who is a size 6. On the other hand, every male in the book is introduced into the story with enthusiastic praise about their good looks and undeniable charm, no matter how sleazy they are as a human being.
It would have been nice if there was more about the investigation itself, but the book was mostly focused on the relationship and history between the characters. The author shares the history of some of the characters to show how they got to where they are today, yet the information does not advance the plot in any way.
Half of the book was spent introducing the characters and providing their life story. In the second half, I was expecting this 'knowledge' to mean something, but in the end, there was either no character development, or an unrealistic change in character. That was frustrating given the amount of time spent on trying to define each character.
I wasn't a big fan of the ending either. It was predictable, abrupt, and anticlimactic.
At the end I felt indifferent at best about the characters, leaving me with little desire to continue reading the series.
It was an easy read, in the sense that it required little focus. Nothing complex in the storyline, mainly because there wasn't much of a storyline. I'm still not sure if the book was supposed to be a crime solving thriller (which it wasn't), or a romance novel (which it was only to the extent of a female lead flirting with every male she meets). The structure of the narration was a bit awkward at times, flipping from a narrative that reflects Janet's thoughts and insecurities to an objective narration.
A lot of the same terms were used to describe the characters, and I didn't appreciate the redundancy. It became irritating very quickly to have the defining features of every female character as "rail thin with ___ coloured hair". That is, with the exception of Janet who is a size 6. On the other hand, every male in the book is introduced into the story with enthusiastic praise about their good looks and undeniable charm, no matter how sleazy they are as a human being.
It would have been nice if there was more about the investigation itself, but the book was mostly focused on the relationship and history between the characters. The author shares the history of some of the characters to show how they got to where they are today, yet the information does not advance the plot in any way.
Half of the book was spent introducing the characters and providing their life story. In the second half, I was expecting this 'knowledge' to mean something, but in the end, there was either no character development, or an unrealistic change in character. That was frustrating given the amount of time spent on trying to define each character.
I wasn't a big fan of the ending either. It was predictable, abrupt, and anticlimactic.
At the end I felt indifferent at best about the characters, leaving me with little desire to continue reading the series.
June 5, 2013
I wanted to like this book. The main characters are engaging and the mystery is interesting, but the writing is so uneven that I almost didn't finish it.
Janet Maple is a lawyer who was "downsized" from the DA's office after her then-boyfriend took credit for investigation she did. I know this because it is mentioned about five times in the first half of the book. In flashback.
She is hired by her best friend from High School, also a lawyer, to pretty much do nothing at a trading firm since they don't use in-house counsel. We get flashbacks to Lisa and Janet's High School interactions, and flashbacks to college (and how Lisa gets into Harvard but Janet doesn't...)
Then Lisa gets engaged to the COO of the company they're working for. A company in which the COO's brother has taken control and has become involved in nefarious dealings with various Evil Hedge Funds and a Shyster Lawyer. We get flashbacks of the COO's brother's formative years, flashbacks of his college years, flashback of his WIFE's college years. I think we even get flashback of his father's, but, by then I was skimming.
Unbeknownst to anyone, an investigator for the Treasury department is working undercover as the firm's IT Guy...and, yes, you've guessed it, he gets some flashbacks too. Sparks fly between Treasury Guy and Janet, but don't get acted on because, after all, this is the first book in a series.
Given the meandering of the various flashbacks (sometimes repeated three or more times), it's a real shock that the last quarter of the book actual has a brisk pace and races to a non-surprizing conclusion. I was entertained by this book (thus gave it 3 stars), but annoyed by it as well. It would do for a "beach read" or some time when you need to put it down continually and so can't read something more complex.
Janet Maple is a lawyer who was "downsized" from the DA's office after her then-boyfriend took credit for investigation she did. I know this because it is mentioned about five times in the first half of the book. In flashback.
She is hired by her best friend from High School, also a lawyer, to pretty much do nothing at a trading firm since they don't use in-house counsel. We get flashbacks to Lisa and Janet's High School interactions, and flashbacks to college (and how Lisa gets into Harvard but Janet doesn't...)
Then Lisa gets engaged to the COO of the company they're working for. A company in which the COO's brother has taken control and has become involved in nefarious dealings with various Evil Hedge Funds and a Shyster Lawyer. We get flashbacks of the COO's brother's formative years, flashbacks of his college years, flashback of his WIFE's college years. I think we even get flashback of his father's, but, by then I was skimming.
Unbeknownst to anyone, an investigator for the Treasury department is working undercover as the firm's IT Guy...and, yes, you've guessed it, he gets some flashbacks too. Sparks fly between Treasury Guy and Janet, but don't get acted on because, after all, this is the first book in a series.
Given the meandering of the various flashbacks (sometimes repeated three or more times), it's a real shock that the last quarter of the book actual has a brisk pace and races to a non-surprizing conclusion. I was entertained by this book (thus gave it 3 stars), but annoyed by it as well. It would do for a "beach read" or some time when you need to put it down continually and so can't read something more complex.
January 24, 2015
I was so looking forward to a fun romp here. A good story line, the addition of a feisty looking and intelligent dog and nefarious dealings in an investment firm. Unfortunately, the dog (who looks adorable) has very little to do in the story apart from make the occasional appearance. :(
The story is padded out with far too many info-dumps: reams of boring details about Jon's house and wife and children, about Dennis's childhood and university and career, about the firm and what they do. I found myself skimming through great wodges of pages - not a good thing. I am not a financial wizard, and I wonder how many other readers found some aspects of the story to be overly complicated? (what, for example, is an IPO? - Why not tell us, or use the term Stock Market Launch?)
I got tired of reading about Janet's size.. So what.. she's a size 6. Big deal. (UK size 10) nothing particularly special about that. and I got fed up of the constant references to 'clean' food and oatmeal and so on. As for the alcohol?? Far too much!
There were some toe-curling moments- the whole wedding dress scene for example, with a wedding shop not having a dress in a size ten (UK size 14) What sort of dress shop is that! Sizeism!!
Disappointing.
Don't let the (wonderful) cover fool you.
The story is padded out with far too many info-dumps: reams of boring details about Jon's house and wife and children, about Dennis's childhood and university and career, about the firm and what they do. I found myself skimming through great wodges of pages - not a good thing. I am not a financial wizard, and I wonder how many other readers found some aspects of the story to be overly complicated? (what, for example, is an IPO? - Why not tell us, or use the term Stock Market Launch?)
I got tired of reading about Janet's size.. So what.. she's a size 6. Big deal. (UK size 10) nothing particularly special about that. and I got fed up of the constant references to 'clean' food and oatmeal and so on. As for the alcohol?? Far too much!
There were some toe-curling moments- the whole wedding dress scene for example, with a wedding shop not having a dress in a size ten (UK size 14) What sort of dress shop is that! Sizeism!!
Disappointing.
Don't let the (wonderful) cover fool you.
April 4, 2015
I got this book free off the web. This is the first of the Janet Maple series. I was curious to read this book, as this author has a bestseller status on both the New York Times and US Today Newspapers. As a budding writer, I'm always interested to see what it take to be a bestseller.
I must say, I was disappointed. This book meanders between a Grisham/Lawyer detective novel and a romance novel. I found myself flipping through pages on my Kobo to see where the next plot point was.
There was endless pages of exposition, massive sections of telling, not showing, where dialogue would have been more effective than the 3rd person omnipresent authors view which dragged the pace down to a snails pace.
I kept reading to see if there would be a dramatic end. Nope, not even that. What I can say is this is not the type of novel I would read, but I have to hand it to Marie Astor, the lady has a huge following of readers, and she has way more reviews than I have.
She's found a niche that works, and I think that's wonderful.
I must say, I was disappointed. This book meanders between a Grisham/Lawyer detective novel and a romance novel. I found myself flipping through pages on my Kobo to see where the next plot point was.
There was endless pages of exposition, massive sections of telling, not showing, where dialogue would have been more effective than the 3rd person omnipresent authors view which dragged the pace down to a snails pace.
I kept reading to see if there would be a dramatic end. Nope, not even that. What I can say is this is not the type of novel I would read, but I have to hand it to Marie Astor, the lady has a huge following of readers, and she has way more reviews than I have.
She's found a niche that works, and I think that's wonderful.
July 9, 2013
To Catch a Bad Guy by Marie Astor is the first book in the Janet Maple Series. This story gives you a little bit of everything love, friendship and a white collar crime. Janet has lost her boyfriend and her job. Lucky for her long time friend has offered her job. Janet ready to restart her life. The story keeps you captive through out! I loved Janet's strong character and felt for her when she had tough decisions she had to make. Janet is overall enjoyable character.
Marie Astor decided keep the story more interesting by having the story told by the different characters in the book! Overall this keeps a good flow to story.
The best part of the story was watching the interaction between Janet and Dennis. Throughout the book you wonder will they or won't they get together. The ending surprises you and makes you want to come back for book two Catching the Bad Guy.
The storyline was well written and kept my interest all the way to the end. I would high recommend this book.
Marie Astor decided keep the story more interesting by having the story told by the different characters in the book! Overall this keeps a good flow to story.
The best part of the story was watching the interaction between Janet and Dennis. Throughout the book you wonder will they or won't they get together. The ending surprises you and makes you want to come back for book two Catching the Bad Guy.
The storyline was well written and kept my interest all the way to the end. I would high recommend this book.
Read
November 17, 2013You'll love Janet Maple! She's the girl we all are but don't realize we are. The kind of girl we want to be. More beautiful than we realize. Strong. A sense of loyalty. Gentle. Kind. And sticks up for herself. Well, except with that old best friend who maybe isn't the best for us. ;)
A good, light, fun read that is part mystery, part romance. Man, is she going to get the guy or what?! I'm going to have to read book 2! And especially since the ex becomes her boss in book 2!
Janet, who was downsized--by her ex no less!--gets a new job thanks to her friend. But things seem a tad odd at the new workplace. Janet's investigative skills go into overdrive and she finds herself in a tricky position where she has to choose friendship over career.
A good, light, fun read that is part mystery, part romance. Man, is she going to get the guy or what?! I'm going to have to read book 2! And especially since the ex becomes her boss in book 2!
Janet, who was downsized--by her ex no less!--gets a new job thanks to her friend. But things seem a tad odd at the new workplace. Janet's investigative skills go into overdrive and she finds herself in a tricky position where she has to choose friendship over career.
February 8, 2017
Free e-reader book. Worth the price.
July 23, 2013
This is a very well written suspense novel with a lawyer as the female protagonist and an investigator from the Treasury department as the male protagonist. There are wicked people, people who are merely drawn into wickedness through greed, and those who are merely annoying twits who seem to flock around Janet Maple. All in all, this is a very enjoyable book. It has a bit of romance thrown in for good measure. This was a book I kept on my iPhone Kindle and although I read it over the period of a week or so - in bits and bobs - it took me merely moments to get my footing without having to go back and review, so it is really quite good!
June 9, 2013
To catch a bad guy is an amazing book. The description for the degree will vary according to the perspective of an individual but for me it was a thriller of a read. A journey of a woman who has joined the new firm and she faces the ups and downs of her new job is destined to find a new way of life through her new partner. The new method and the way of life that she finds actually puts a full stop on the ongoing progresses of the culprits. All in all it was a very nice book to read. In other words, worth the money I spent to buy it and the time I invested to read it.
August 7, 2022
Cliff hanger
February 15, 2017
That book spent a long time on my tbr shelf, as I remembered checking once its overall rating on goodreads and it was one of the lowest I ever saw especially for a book rated more than 5000 times.
However I decided to give it a chance. And that was deserved.
This book isn't among the very best I read, but it was an entertaining and light read. Not completely stupid regards the work and business environment described - for many readers, that seemed to be one of the weakness of the book. As for me, that's definitely a strength! I really hate it when supposedly intelligent characters do not show a single moment that they have basic common sense or when their job description is outlandish and when an investigation is based on many stupid things that should have been avoided. Here the white-collar financial crime was realistic enough. Some of the details in the investigation had my brows raised a few times, especially regards the legality of proof obtained by stealth by an agent who lied to be recruited as an employee and also regards the ability to get a warrant to do that.
I am not sure yet but I might go on reading the following book in that series, if it's cheap enough.
However I decided to give it a chance. And that was deserved.
This book isn't among the very best I read, but it was an entertaining and light read. Not completely stupid regards the work and business environment described - for many readers, that seemed to be one of the weakness of the book. As for me, that's definitely a strength! I really hate it when supposedly intelligent characters do not show a single moment that they have basic common sense or when their job description is outlandish and when an investigation is based on many stupid things that should have been avoided. Here the white-collar financial crime was realistic enough. Some of the details in the investigation had my brows raised a few times, especially regards the legality of proof obtained by stealth by an agent who lied to be recruited as an employee and also regards the ability to get a warrant to do that.
I am not sure yet but I might go on reading the following book in that series, if it's cheap enough.
February 19, 2024
Easy read
August 18, 2014
To Catch A Bad Guy was not a very good read. It wasn't horrible, but there was way too much background info on every characters and no pay off at the end. I didn't love it while I was reading it, but then once I finished I just though why did I even read this?? What was the point? Some spoilers ahead as I will talk about the ending.
Janet is the biggest doormat ever. She just lets people walk all over her. She is supposed to be this big attorney who used to work for the DA, but ugh. She got fired and is now working with her best friend, who I will get to a minute, and now that she is not fighting bad guys she is like against people who do. When Janet finds out who Dean/Dennis really is, what he is really doing, she is super angry. Why? I am not sure. I mean she sorta had his job just before this. She was working on the same kind of case, but from his side and not undercover, so I am not sure why she is so against what he is doing. That and she gets a job offer from his boss at the end and low and behold she goes to work for them! So she must not have that big of an issue with it...or she really has no principals and just changes her believes every two seconds.
So right from the first day Janet thinks there is something funny going on with her new job. Her best friend, Lisa, is kind of a flake. Lisa doesn't really want to work, she just is until she gets married to her guy who can raise her status. Lisa, and every other female on this book besides Janet, are so shallow, money grubbing materialistic nightmares. I don't know. They also always tell Janet how terrible she looks and everything she could do to look better. For example she needs to keep her hair down as she will never find a guy if she wears her hair up (or has short hair). Everyone knows guys like long hair and there is no way to get one otherwise...it was just a bit ridiculous, but not in a good way.
Lisa also always tries to set Janet up with whatever horrible guy who has lots of money so she should be happy to date them. It was...I wanted Janet to at some point stick up for herself. Oh well. Oh, the other strange thing in this book is how often the other characters used Janet's name. In just about every sentence when they spoke they said her name. It was just odd and not how people actually talk.
So Janet keeps investigated the strange things she uncovers. Jon is the evil brother, trying to make extra money in not exactly legal ways, while Paul is the bumbling little brother who does not have the best business sense and just doesn't really know what he is doing in his job (though he does try). He is the one marrying Lisa and he loves how Lisa enjoys her work and whatnot. I don't see that relationship working out very well since Lisa is just pretending the whole time she is with Paul, but whatever. I didn't really care. So Janet finds out some things and Dean/Dennis grows closer to her and eventually tells her who he is and what he is doing. He gets Janet to work with him even though she doesn't want to for some reason, and they are building a case to take down Jon (and possibly Paul because he is high up in the company and might not be safe). Well wouldn't you know at the same time they are going to move forward with this case Jon has a change of heart and goes to the police to help them get the people he was working with. Well...okay so you didn't even get the yes! We caught the bad guy moment. Instead the bad guy changed his mind and turned himself in. Kind of a let down.
The other let down in the end? Dennis and Janet don't even get together! So I guess you have to read another book to see them get together, but really this one wasn't good enough for me to continue. I don't really care that much, but since I did read the whole thing I wanted something to happen at the end besides kind of nothing. It just felt like why did I just read this again? I won't be continuing the series.
This review was originally posted to Jen in Bookland
Janet is the biggest doormat ever. She just lets people walk all over her. She is supposed to be this big attorney who used to work for the DA, but ugh. She got fired and is now working with her best friend, who I will get to a minute, and now that she is not fighting bad guys she is like against people who do. When Janet finds out who Dean/Dennis really is, what he is really doing, she is super angry. Why? I am not sure. I mean she sorta had his job just before this. She was working on the same kind of case, but from his side and not undercover, so I am not sure why she is so against what he is doing. That and she gets a job offer from his boss at the end and low and behold she goes to work for them! So she must not have that big of an issue with it...or she really has no principals and just changes her believes every two seconds.
So right from the first day Janet thinks there is something funny going on with her new job. Her best friend, Lisa, is kind of a flake. Lisa doesn't really want to work, she just is until she gets married to her guy who can raise her status. Lisa, and every other female on this book besides Janet, are so shallow, money grubbing materialistic nightmares. I don't know. They also always tell Janet how terrible she looks and everything she could do to look better. For example she needs to keep her hair down as she will never find a guy if she wears her hair up (or has short hair). Everyone knows guys like long hair and there is no way to get one otherwise...it was just a bit ridiculous, but not in a good way.
Lisa also always tries to set Janet up with whatever horrible guy who has lots of money so she should be happy to date them. It was...I wanted Janet to at some point stick up for herself. Oh well. Oh, the other strange thing in this book is how often the other characters used Janet's name. In just about every sentence when they spoke they said her name. It was just odd and not how people actually talk.
So Janet keeps investigated the strange things she uncovers. Jon is the evil brother, trying to make extra money in not exactly legal ways, while Paul is the bumbling little brother who does not have the best business sense and just doesn't really know what he is doing in his job (though he does try). He is the one marrying Lisa and he loves how Lisa enjoys her work and whatnot. I don't see that relationship working out very well since Lisa is just pretending the whole time she is with Paul, but whatever. I didn't really care. So Janet finds out some things and Dean/Dennis grows closer to her and eventually tells her who he is and what he is doing. He gets Janet to work with him even though she doesn't want to for some reason, and they are building a case to take down Jon (and possibly Paul because he is high up in the company and might not be safe). Well wouldn't you know at the same time they are going to move forward with this case Jon has a change of heart and goes to the police to help them get the people he was working with. Well...okay so you didn't even get the yes! We caught the bad guy moment. Instead the bad guy changed his mind and turned himself in. Kind of a let down.
The other let down in the end? Dennis and Janet don't even get together! So I guess you have to read another book to see them get together, but really this one wasn't good enough for me to continue. I don't really care that much, but since I did read the whole thing I wanted something to happen at the end besides kind of nothing. It just felt like why did I just read this again? I won't be continuing the series.
This review was originally posted to Jen in Bookland
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