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Sonoma Knight PI #2
Gurl-Posse Kidnap
After Thanksgiving when new wine rests on the lees at bubbling ferment, family secrets tumble out in a drenching rain, blind to who gets hurt. A drug deal unravels into murder, kidnap and redemption as PI Jake Knight helps his young client, Molly Draper, see the light. Then Molly races to save Valentina, a magical pure child. A post-modern thriller with unexpected twists, fast-paced with excellent characters, honoring the spirit of First Americans. No pandering sex scenes.
"My granddaughter is headed for a bad patch, Mr.
Knight." ~Hannah Draper "Drugs? I don’t bother. I’m lifted on love, thanks." ~Jake Knight "A girl with that much money has a target on her back." Col. Hap Hazard.
"My granddaughter is headed for a bad patch, Mr.
Knight." ~Hannah Draper "Drugs? I don’t bother. I’m lifted on love, thanks." ~Jake Knight "A girl with that much money has a target on her back." Col. Hap Hazard.
220 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 20, 2014
10 people want to read
About the author
Peter Prasad
8 books59 followersI write crime thrillers - post-modern with a twist. So, I sweat bullets and laugh at myself, drunk on life. I'm captivated by my own imagination, looking for zinger dialog and blazing story.
GOAT-RIPPER is a sexy romantic crime thriller in the heart of Sonoma wine country. Jake Knight, Afghan vet and new PI, goes after a wine cheat and saves the governor.
GURL-POSSE KIDNAP is a drug deal gone wrong. It morphs into murder, kidnap and redemption as Jake helps his client see the light.
GUT-CHECK GREEN has environmental terrorists raiding a wine party. They stymie a task force sent to hunt them down. Only Jake can identify and chase them, going up against a vicious killer, the Pencil Man.
CAMPAIGN ZEN 500bc-2012 is a look at the history of the ballot box, told in tavern doggerel. Pour a jar and read aloud, then vote as often as you can.
About me? Florida native, San Francisco resident, father, husband and Boy Scout in recovery, world traveler, Zen poet, Africa & Tokyo ad guy, start-up & solar guy, ocean energy champion, a writer for 40 years.
I love the poem cadences of Kipling, the dialect of Mark Twain, the heart of Vonnegut and the thrillers of John D. MacDonald. His PI, Travis McGee, was birthed on a Beach Club bar stool where I grew up.
So jump in; life is a participatory sport. If you're an emerging writer, load up on life experiences on which to craft your art. Thanks for reading. O'ya dear readers.
GOAT-RIPPER is a sexy romantic crime thriller in the heart of Sonoma wine country. Jake Knight, Afghan vet and new PI, goes after a wine cheat and saves the governor.
GURL-POSSE KIDNAP is a drug deal gone wrong. It morphs into murder, kidnap and redemption as Jake helps his client see the light.
GUT-CHECK GREEN has environmental terrorists raiding a wine party. They stymie a task force sent to hunt them down. Only Jake can identify and chase them, going up against a vicious killer, the Pencil Man.
CAMPAIGN ZEN 500bc-2012 is a look at the history of the ballot box, told in tavern doggerel. Pour a jar and read aloud, then vote as often as you can.
About me? Florida native, San Francisco resident, father, husband and Boy Scout in recovery, world traveler, Zen poet, Africa & Tokyo ad guy, start-up & solar guy, ocean energy champion, a writer for 40 years.
I love the poem cadences of Kipling, the dialect of Mark Twain, the heart of Vonnegut and the thrillers of John D. MacDonald. His PI, Travis McGee, was birthed on a Beach Club bar stool where I grew up.
So jump in; life is a participatory sport. If you're an emerging writer, load up on life experiences on which to craft your art. Thanks for reading. O'ya dear readers.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 30, 2014
The first thing I have to say about this book is how pleasantly surprised I was to find that knowledge of the previous book wasn't needed to enjoy this one, and the plotline of the first one didn't get jammed down my throat in an infodump glob. The story jumps right in, and only the most necessary information is laced through the book, added in small, easily digestible dollops.
I found the book to be a fun read, though I question calling it a 'mystery', since there's no mystery. It may be a mystery from the characters' POV, but the reader knows everything that's going on, thanks to several chapters told from the bad guys' perspectives. A better category for this book would be action/adventure.
My main criticism of this book is that the characters don't get stressed very much. Nearly every problem they encounter is resolved quickly and easily, with minimal harm and no further complications. Plans go off without a real hitch. The situations don't create a sense of urgency or give the impression that anything really bad could or would happen to the main characters. Bad guys are bad and good guys are good.
That said, I did enjoy it as escapist modern fantasy, complete with a scoop of the paranormal. Otter and Mamie steal the show as secondary characters with a heaping pile of personality each. The rest of the characters are fine, just not as vivid.
Overall, I recommend this as a beach read - a fun, light diversion.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I found the book to be a fun read, though I question calling it a 'mystery', since there's no mystery. It may be a mystery from the characters' POV, but the reader knows everything that's going on, thanks to several chapters told from the bad guys' perspectives. A better category for this book would be action/adventure.
My main criticism of this book is that the characters don't get stressed very much. Nearly every problem they encounter is resolved quickly and easily, with minimal harm and no further complications. Plans go off without a real hitch. The situations don't create a sense of urgency or give the impression that anything really bad could or would happen to the main characters. Bad guys are bad and good guys are good.
That said, I did enjoy it as escapist modern fantasy, complete with a scoop of the paranormal. Otter and Mamie steal the show as secondary characters with a heaping pile of personality each. The rest of the characters are fine, just not as vivid.
Overall, I recommend this as a beach read - a fun, light diversion.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
June 11, 2014
Three and a half would be more like it, but it falls short of a four on Goodreads. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a crime thriller and to TV commissioning executives - I think it could be a hit. It would be suitable for a young adult reader but not an advanced child reader.
Gurl-Posse Kidnap is a crime-fiction drama set in Sonoma County of California. It is the second of a burgeoning series centred on the character of Jake Knight, a US veteran of the Rangers setting up his life after the army around his farm, his brother, his girl-friend and being a private investigator for a well-connected firm. I did not feel that I missed anything by not having read the first book, as if you need to know, you are told and if it doesn't impact on the story, it is not brought up. If the author maintains this detachment from story to story it will be a strength to the series, but I can see that Jake has an ongoing journey to make which will also reward anyone wanting to follow the whole series. This book involves teenage rich-kids, American Indians (aka First People), people smuggling, modern-day slavery, drugs, child prostitution, cartel bad-guys, bent cops, pedophiles, farmers and cheese. There are supernatural elements which are kept within the realms of reality - you don't have to buy into them to make the story work, it could all just be coincidence, faith, human nature or over-use of drugs and alcohol at work.
When I first picked this up I must admit that the "private eye" tag had me assuming that this would be a detective fiction, but there is no "whodunnit" element to the book - there is more of a "whowilldoit" element as we are presented with at least two likely antagonists. So I have plumped for thriller as a genre, the first to be so labelled on my bookshelf here.
The beginning is a little meandering, as we follow the actions of multiple individuals, but a lot happens that moves the story forward, and once you have got in a few chapters you can see who is who and what is what. A few POV's are terminated for one reason or another and the storylines merge as the characters cross each other's paths (often without meeting). The action intensifies and gains momentum at the end, making for a gripping ending, which is what you want out of a thriller. The tone is light where it is allowed to be and there is clearly a lot of humour in the author's intent. He skirts a number of serious issues such as the various implications of people-trafficking, but he acknowledges that they exist and just does not want to go down certain roads in his narrative, giving a cast iron reason why his perverted characters do not go down the route that they would in other circumstances go down.
The author thanks beta-readers, but there were still numerous minor literals throughout, thankfully nothing repetitive. The author makes some excellent word-play and the descriptive passages are succinct and paint a great scene - so much so that I could see this book not so much on film as on television, as the pace and relative brevity of the story would suit that medium, perhaps as a two-hour special.
Also, they say don't judge a book by its cover and I can see no link between this cover and the storyline apart from the animals shown. The title too seems to suggest a book that is either about a group of girls getting kidnapped or coming together to kidnap someone, and although there are several kidnap situations, even the one which comes closest hardly fits this title.
I think most of the characters' voices as they appeared in my mind were probably ok, but for some reason I kept giving Hannah an aging Southern Belle accent, which meant that poor Mamie ended up with a complimentary southern black voice that I couldn't shake even once I found out more about their respective backgrounds. Colonel Hazard similarly became the crazy Texan from the Simpsons, especially after the Druids' Club section. What do I know? I only have so many American stereotypes to draw upon - I'm British!
I received a free copy of this book in return for an impartial and critical review.
Gurl-Posse Kidnap is a crime-fiction drama set in Sonoma County of California. It is the second of a burgeoning series centred on the character of Jake Knight, a US veteran of the Rangers setting up his life after the army around his farm, his brother, his girl-friend and being a private investigator for a well-connected firm. I did not feel that I missed anything by not having read the first book, as if you need to know, you are told and if it doesn't impact on the story, it is not brought up. If the author maintains this detachment from story to story it will be a strength to the series, but I can see that Jake has an ongoing journey to make which will also reward anyone wanting to follow the whole series. This book involves teenage rich-kids, American Indians (aka First People), people smuggling, modern-day slavery, drugs, child prostitution, cartel bad-guys, bent cops, pedophiles, farmers and cheese. There are supernatural elements which are kept within the realms of reality - you don't have to buy into them to make the story work, it could all just be coincidence, faith, human nature or over-use of drugs and alcohol at work.
When I first picked this up I must admit that the "private eye" tag had me assuming that this would be a detective fiction, but there is no "whodunnit" element to the book - there is more of a "whowilldoit" element as we are presented with at least two likely antagonists. So I have plumped for thriller as a genre, the first to be so labelled on my bookshelf here.
The beginning is a little meandering, as we follow the actions of multiple individuals, but a lot happens that moves the story forward, and once you have got in a few chapters you can see who is who and what is what. A few POV's are terminated for one reason or another and the storylines merge as the characters cross each other's paths (often without meeting). The action intensifies and gains momentum at the end, making for a gripping ending, which is what you want out of a thriller. The tone is light where it is allowed to be and there is clearly a lot of humour in the author's intent. He skirts a number of serious issues such as the various implications of people-trafficking, but he acknowledges that they exist and just does not want to go down certain roads in his narrative, giving a cast iron reason why his perverted characters do not go down the route that they would in other circumstances go down.
The author thanks beta-readers, but there were still numerous minor literals throughout, thankfully nothing repetitive. The author makes some excellent word-play and the descriptive passages are succinct and paint a great scene - so much so that I could see this book not so much on film as on television, as the pace and relative brevity of the story would suit that medium, perhaps as a two-hour special.
Also, they say don't judge a book by its cover and I can see no link between this cover and the storyline apart from the animals shown. The title too seems to suggest a book that is either about a group of girls getting kidnapped or coming together to kidnap someone, and although there are several kidnap situations, even the one which comes closest hardly fits this title.
I think most of the characters' voices as they appeared in my mind were probably ok, but for some reason I kept giving Hannah an aging Southern Belle accent, which meant that poor Mamie ended up with a complimentary southern black voice that I couldn't shake even once I found out more about their respective backgrounds. Colonel Hazard similarly became the crazy Texan from the Simpsons, especially after the Druids' Club section. What do I know? I only have so many American stereotypes to draw upon - I'm British!
I received a free copy of this book in return for an impartial and critical review.
March 27, 2014
I'm blown away! Mr. Prasad had me engaged from the first pages of this Book! I enjoyed it so much, I skipped right past the excerpt for Book 2, because I want to read it fresh, to see what Jake the P.I. is going to take on next. This book is like one of those multi-layered cream and berry torte's that sit in the window of a bakery in Paris.
The story is allowed to unfold slowly, to introduce you to Jake, a military veteran, and recent local boy turned state hero. He owns a farm that raises sheep, and he rents part of his homestead to people who use his goats milk production to make cheese. His newest job is as a private investigator in a company also ran by an Ex Military man.
The care with editing, proofing, researching and the tightness of the story line is very evident from the beginning, until the end. The team you praised at books end, I praise once more, I agree, Mr. Prasad, you should let your Singapore artist continue producing your cover art, it draws the reader right in.
I highly recommend that you read this book if you like mysteries and thrillers. It has action, is gritty, and has a Native American twist that was just the right touch. I will be seeking out Book 2, it's a refreshing read. Mr. Prasad didn't employ gimmicks, giving this book a dimension that is reminiscent of mysteries you might see on a movie of the week, or TV series, where the action stays dressed, and is not a distraction from the story.
Gurl-Posse Kidnap is well worth 5 Stars, read it, and please leave him a review.
The story is allowed to unfold slowly, to introduce you to Jake, a military veteran, and recent local boy turned state hero. He owns a farm that raises sheep, and he rents part of his homestead to people who use his goats milk production to make cheese. His newest job is as a private investigator in a company also ran by an Ex Military man.
The care with editing, proofing, researching and the tightness of the story line is very evident from the beginning, until the end. The team you praised at books end, I praise once more, I agree, Mr. Prasad, you should let your Singapore artist continue producing your cover art, it draws the reader right in.
I highly recommend that you read this book if you like mysteries and thrillers. It has action, is gritty, and has a Native American twist that was just the right touch. I will be seeking out Book 2, it's a refreshing read. Mr. Prasad didn't employ gimmicks, giving this book a dimension that is reminiscent of mysteries you might see on a movie of the week, or TV series, where the action stays dressed, and is not a distraction from the story.
Gurl-Posse Kidnap is well worth 5 Stars, read it, and please leave him a review.
April 26, 2014
A labor of love dealing with teenagers and rain; five months to write, four months to edit, polish and revise. So is Molly Draper guilty? How guilty is she? The scene between Otter and Serrato with the tequila bottle in the corn field is one of my favorite. I love the Druid's Club scene, a place where I'd like to hang out with fellows blazing doggerel at each other. Jake Knight is coming into his own. This is like his sophomore year. After this, the blinders come off and he chases after eco-terrorists led by the Pencil Man. Thank you, readers. All the best!
April 22, 2014
Peter Prasad’s Gurl-Posse Kidnap is a five-star thriller, with blood-chilling villains in pursuit of a not-so-innocent teenage girl named Molly. She sleep-walks into a drug deal that leaves three Ecstasy dealers dead, and faces hair-raising consequences not only from the law but from the drug cartel. Jake, a private investigator hired by her wealthy grandmother, ingeniously surmounts these dangers but barely escapes with his life. The villains in this rousing story make Iago seem tame. Fortunately, the divine peers into these fearsome pages and brings messages that guide the confused girl and her rescuers. This is a very exciting tale, written in superb style with real panache. I recommend it highly. It would make a great Hollywood flick.
April 28, 2014
Gurl Posse is a delightful quick read. I fell in love with Jake from the very beginning. He is the hero every woman wants to have in her life. Molly, 19-years-old and the very spoiled granddaughter of a wealthy dowager, impetuously jumps into the deep end of a very dangerous lake rather than tip-toe around the edges where she would have been safer. Jake who has been hired to protect her is challenged both personally and professionally. I’m looking forward to the next book.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews