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Switcheroo
ASIN B009SGYOPE moved to the most recent edition here
Field investigator Russell “Rust” Stover quickly finds trouble when he meets a seductive Country Karaoke Cocktail waitress with a secret, Tammy McHenry. She pulls him in with the story of her recently murdered husband and the theft of a fantastic teleportation discovery. Somehow Tammy’s two Ford pickup trucks mysteriously switch places at 3:17 am every night. The problem? One of the trucks was stolen the night her estranged husband was murdered.
Rust plays along, but his mind is put on its end when he sees for himself that the trucks really do teleport. He is pulled deeper into the caper, crashing his car during a chase and being attacked by shotgun rednecks. All for a client who is long on mascara and short on money. Rust is in lust with Tammy and falling in love with Wendy Forsyth; the pretty paralegal who works in his office building. Stretched between two women and the search for two missing trucks, Rust isn’t ready when the bad guys come out of the woodwork on the hunt for the invention. Wendy’s daughter is kidnapped.
Never having really finished anything before, Rust must dig deeper and try to right things. His journey to recover Tammy’s missing discovery and Wendy’s daughter takes him to Colombia and back to Knoxville, Tennessee, fleeing from an angry drug cartel, the mountain mafia and desperate nuclear scientist.
Field investigator Russell “Rust” Stover quickly finds trouble when he meets a seductive Country Karaoke Cocktail waitress with a secret, Tammy McHenry. She pulls him in with the story of her recently murdered husband and the theft of a fantastic teleportation discovery. Somehow Tammy’s two Ford pickup trucks mysteriously switch places at 3:17 am every night. The problem? One of the trucks was stolen the night her estranged husband was murdered.
Rust plays along, but his mind is put on its end when he sees for himself that the trucks really do teleport. He is pulled deeper into the caper, crashing his car during a chase and being attacked by shotgun rednecks. All for a client who is long on mascara and short on money. Rust is in lust with Tammy and falling in love with Wendy Forsyth; the pretty paralegal who works in his office building. Stretched between two women and the search for two missing trucks, Rust isn’t ready when the bad guys come out of the woodwork on the hunt for the invention. Wendy’s daughter is kidnapped.
Never having really finished anything before, Rust must dig deeper and try to right things. His journey to recover Tammy’s missing discovery and Wendy’s daughter takes him to Colombia and back to Knoxville, Tennessee, fleeing from an angry drug cartel, the mountain mafia and desperate nuclear scientist.
264 pages, ebook
First published October 17, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 17, 2013
There is so much to like about this book. The premise is great. The wise-cracking, politically incorrect central character walks a fine line between amusing and irritating, but tends to grow on us. Loads of fun with nasty bad guys, ineptitudes, crazed scientist, sexy women, thrills...and a nice twist on the old "switcheroo."
That said, the author gives everything away in the prologue, then has our detective hitting on the correct idea at once, which spoils the mystery. There are too many places where the backstory is shoved at us awkwardly (and boringly). Despite the author's thanks to his copy editor, he would have done better to run a spell check and a grammar check. LOTS of problems on that score, including too many instances of using the wrong word (peak instead of peek, to instead of too, etc.). Some of his entangled sentences are difficult (to impossible) to make sense of, and I'd recommend watching repeats of certain things (we can deal with one "whore in church" but not more). The great Gardner Duzois never read more if he found a couple of minor mistakes on the first page because it meant the author hadn't bothered to learn the craft. If the author wants helps, he should check out Zoetrope.com for a community of writers. Studying the basics always improves a story.
If you can overlook the flaws, you'll enjoy the story. I hope the author will consider a rewrite and make this the book it's crying to be.
That said, the author gives everything away in the prologue, then has our detective hitting on the correct idea at once, which spoils the mystery. There are too many places where the backstory is shoved at us awkwardly (and boringly). Despite the author's thanks to his copy editor, he would have done better to run a spell check and a grammar check. LOTS of problems on that score, including too many instances of using the wrong word (peak instead of peek, to instead of too, etc.). Some of his entangled sentences are difficult (to impossible) to make sense of, and I'd recommend watching repeats of certain things (we can deal with one "whore in church" but not more). The great Gardner Duzois never read more if he found a couple of minor mistakes on the first page because it meant the author hadn't bothered to learn the craft. If the author wants helps, he should check out Zoetrope.com for a community of writers. Studying the basics always improves a story.
If you can overlook the flaws, you'll enjoy the story. I hope the author will consider a rewrite and make this the book it's crying to be.
March 9, 2014
Read this book on my Kindle, with no great expectations, but was pleasently surprised.
An enjoyable and fast paced detective novel, with a dose of quantuum physics to provide the twist. The Characters are well sketched out and beleivable, each with their weaknesses and quirks (and beleive me there are *some* quirks!) and the storytelling is best when dealing with the character interaction.
Some of the writing is slightly uneaven and contrived in order to move the plot along, and in a couple of places I had to re-read passages to make sure I hadn't jumped a couple of pages. But mostly this is a very enjoyable, unpretentious, pulpy, detective novel!
An enjoyable and fast paced detective novel, with a dose of quantuum physics to provide the twist. The Characters are well sketched out and beleivable, each with their weaknesses and quirks (and beleive me there are *some* quirks!) and the storytelling is best when dealing with the character interaction.
Some of the writing is slightly uneaven and contrived in order to move the plot along, and in a couple of places I had to re-read passages to make sure I hadn't jumped a couple of pages. But mostly this is a very enjoyable, unpretentious, pulpy, detective novel!
October 5, 2016
Story itself was good
The book had quite a few typos that were from the e-book conversion. It had a few typos like missing words or extra words and some noun verb disagreement. The story was a wild ride in the newly exciting life of a normally boring life of a private investigator on a new case and actually a good read of a fresh idea.
The book had quite a few typos that were from the e-book conversion. It had a few typos like missing words or extra words and some noun verb disagreement. The story was a wild ride in the newly exciting life of a normally boring life of a private investigator on a new case and actually a good read of a fresh idea.
December 3, 2013
Great story. Funny with a little science fiction
February 8, 2014
Fun read, and free on kindle.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews