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Jay Porter #5
Rag and Bone: A Jay Porter Novel
Having spent 10 months on the run after he was framed for the murder of an estate-clearing associate, handyman Jay Porter returns to his hometown of Ashton, New Hampshire. During his time as a fugitive, he searched for a hard drive - evidence that would put his longtime nemeses Adam and Michael Lombardi behind bars. But he came up empty handed.
He has nothing. No hard drive, no hope. He hasn’t spoken to his ex-wife and son in almost a year and he’s broke. With his reputation tarnished and employment opportunities nonexistent, Jay takes a charity assignment from old friend/flame Alison Rodgers and learns of a fire at Alison’s former rehab farm. Jay is convinced that the Lombardis started a fire as a scare tactic to pressure Alison to sell. As Jay begins to look into the origins of the fire, he hopes he will finally be able to put away his enemies. But he soon discovers that evil isn’t so easy to define, and that sometimes, we need to take the law into our own hands if we want justice.
He has nothing. No hard drive, no hope. He hasn’t spoken to his ex-wife and son in almost a year and he’s broke. With his reputation tarnished and employment opportunities nonexistent, Jay takes a charity assignment from old friend/flame Alison Rodgers and learns of a fire at Alison’s former rehab farm. Jay is convinced that the Lombardis started a fire as a scare tactic to pressure Alison to sell. As Jay begins to look into the origins of the fire, he hopes he will finally be able to put away his enemies. But he soon discovers that evil isn’t so easy to define, and that sometimes, we need to take the law into our own hands if we want justice.
- GenresMysteryMystery Thriller
Audible Audio
First published June 4, 2019
57 people are currently reading
392 people want to read
About the author
Joe Clifford
58 books309 followersJoe Clifford is the author of several books, including Junkie Love, the Jay Porter Thriller Series, Say My Name, All Who Wander, as well as editor of Trouble in the Heartland: Crime Stories Based on the Songs of Bruce Springsteen and others. Joe’s writing can be found at www.joeclifford.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
June 4, 2019
Jay Porter has spent almost a year in hiding after being framed for a murder. Now that the police have caught the actual killers, he has returned to his hometown.
He's pretty much lost everything ... his wife, his son, his business, his money, his good name.
The only thing left is the men that he holds responsible for his brother's death before he went into hiding. And then there's the conspiracy involving the local political businessmen.
RAG AND BONE is the 5th story in this series. It reads okay as a stand alone as the previous books are more or less summarized so the reader understands what is taking place today.
The author has personal experience living on the streets before turning his life around, and this lends credibility to his characters and their stories.
Many thanks to the author / Oceanview Publishing for the digital copy of this crime fiction/mystery. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
October 4, 2018
The Jay Porter series is a kind of rural noir, focusing its first-person narrative on a small New England town and a down-on-his-luck ex-junkman. In this fifth entry, he is now a guy who has been living off the grid for a year on the run from the law. Along the way, he has found rock bottom and it ain’t pretty. It’s a world of losers, deadbeat dads, addicts, boozers, shuffling from job to job and rundown motel to motel.
It’s time to return now that the real killer has been brought to justice but there are way too many broken pieces to put together, starting with an inability to control himself around the ex wife with her new rich husband and the kid he hasn’t seen in a year. Porter still sees a sinister conspiracy involving the local political bosses that he just can’t get in front of. He’s got little going for him and they all think he’s nuts with his crusade.
This story isn’t so much about a particular mystery as it is about Porter’s struggles and frustrations and his feeling that it’s all out of control. Somehow the narrative captures Porter’s everyman-ness and is a rather compelling read.
It’s time to return now that the real killer has been brought to justice but there are way too many broken pieces to put together, starting with an inability to control himself around the ex wife with her new rich husband and the kid he hasn’t seen in a year. Porter still sees a sinister conspiracy involving the local political bosses that he just can’t get in front of. He’s got little going for him and they all think he’s nuts with his crusade.
This story isn’t so much about a particular mystery as it is about Porter’s struggles and frustrations and his feeling that it’s all out of control. Somehow the narrative captures Porter’s everyman-ness and is a rather compelling read.
May 6, 2019
An original and appropriate conclusion to a cycle of books that captured my heart and my imagination over the last couple years.
Back in Ashton after being on the run for over a year, Jay wants to wrap loose ends, finish his beef with the all-powerful Lombardi brothers and start anew. But it's not so simple when this hope of being the hero is the only thing you have and the one thing that destroys everything else in your life.
The Jay Porter books have always been about the support cast shining a cruel, but honest light on our hero more than it is about the hero himself and RAG AND BONE is another shining example of that.
Back in Ashton after being on the run for over a year, Jay wants to wrap loose ends, finish his beef with the all-powerful Lombardi brothers and start anew. But it's not so simple when this hope of being the hero is the only thing you have and the one thing that destroys everything else in your life.
The Jay Porter books have always been about the support cast shining a cruel, but honest light on our hero more than it is about the hero himself and RAG AND BONE is another shining example of that.
June 10, 2019
Read my Interview with Joe Clifford on his new Jay Porter novel, writing, and inspirations. | More2Read
Jay needed to be a good dad and a good husband, in the past, now at least a good dad and move on in life with new realities, the past never dead, he is must move forward.
Obsessed with seeking out the truth to past and possibly going in too deep now, more hearts to break, including his own, needs to find stability and fortitude.
In setting things right he needs to find the real deal Jay Porter again, it is all going take some struggles and cleaning out garbage.
All clearly layered out in fluid motion with compelling characters and storytelling with Ray Porter’s complexities, with all the lies, coverups, loss, and death he is in conflict with, problems he has to solve and put to rest, inner and outer battles and tragedies, storytelling with the things that people carry.
Jay needed to be a good dad and a good husband, in the past, now at least a good dad and move on in life with new realities, the past never dead, he is must move forward.
Obsessed with seeking out the truth to past and possibly going in too deep now, more hearts to break, including his own, needs to find stability and fortitude.
In setting things right he needs to find the real deal Jay Porter again, it is all going take some struggles and cleaning out garbage.
All clearly layered out in fluid motion with compelling characters and storytelling with Ray Porter’s complexities, with all the lies, coverups, loss, and death he is in conflict with, problems he has to solve and put to rest, inner and outer battles and tragedies, storytelling with the things that people carry.
July 28, 2020
I won this book in a goodreads drawing.
After a year on the run for a murder he did not commit, Jay Porter returns to his hometown in Maine, poor and heartbroken, and almost homeless. He takes a job as a handyman for a woman he knew before. It seems she has an ex-husband, too. Somebody might be stalking her. Porter's also been feuding with a pair of brothers for years, and starts right in as soon as he gets back.
Porter drinks too much, smokes too much, makes stupid decisions and irritates everybody his quests.
Pretty dark. Not bad if you like that sort of thing.
After a year on the run for a murder he did not commit, Jay Porter returns to his hometown in Maine, poor and heartbroken, and almost homeless. He takes a job as a handyman for a woman he knew before. It seems she has an ex-husband, too. Somebody might be stalking her. Porter's also been feuding with a pair of brothers for years, and starts right in as soon as he gets back.
Porter drinks too much, smokes too much, makes stupid decisions and irritates everybody his quests.
Pretty dark. Not bad if you like that sort of thing.
May 17, 2019
Jay Porter reminds me of Colonel Nicholson from The Bridge on the River Kwai. He clasps on to what he believes is right even if it's an anchor that will drag him to the bottom of a lake. And it's his dogged determination that makes Jay Porter so compelling. You'll understand Jay's point of view and his ambition to do what he thinks is right even though the world would rather he let it slip through the cracks. He's an underdog with a bite sharp enough to cripple himself and still we want him to succeed while the wold goes on with or without him. It's a great read for anyone who wants to experience a story ground in the bitter cold and left to fend for itself. Highly recommended.
October 6, 2020
The depth of this storyline impressed beyond belief. The characters are deeply flawed and relatable. This is a story that leaves you thinking. As you should. Recommend.
June 10, 2019
When reviewing 2018’s BROKEN GROUND, I incorrectly predicted that Jay Porter would hit bedrock when digging himself into a hole. No way to go but up, right?
For much of his adult life, Jay was “just a guy who cleared junk from dead people’s houses.” For a year he’s been on the lam, suspected in the murder of Owen Eaton, a rival estate clearer, what Jay calls the “rag and bone” business. Although cleared of the charges in absentia, he’d “been branded a killer in the court of public opinion.” His attempt to live off-grid was futile, posting as “Jay the Junkman” social media rants against nemeses the Lombardis.
Jay had “long railed against the Lombardi Brothers,” evil incarnate. He “was a broken man putting his life back together.” Meeting his ex to discuss possible visitation rights with their seven-year-old, Jenny says, “I swear you seek out trouble. You yearn for drama, pain, tragedy.”
In a desperate attempt to restore his former life, Jay devises a plan of snaring the Lombardis. He commits “one small crime to expose ones far worse.” Only, Michael Lombardi is fast-tracked to become a state senator, harboring aspirations for loftier political positions.
Karma plays a big part in this tale, and karma doesn’t need Jay’s help. Perhaps that’s a lesson he and readers will learn: not hang on to past failures and yearn for vengeance. The title of 2017’s entry seems to finally resonate with Jay Porter: GIVE UP THE DEAD.
As often happens in life for those with addiction issues, Joe Clifford’s fifth Jay Porter installment doesn’t portray a fairy tale happily-ever-after ending. The author strives to depict through his characters the dangers of drug addiction. In that, he succeeds. Brilliantly!
A former homeless junkie, Clifford dedicates his life to helping other ex-junkies construct platforms for creative endeavors. He pulled himself out of a drug death spiral to become a successful author.
Reviewed by L. Dean Murphy
For much of his adult life, Jay was “just a guy who cleared junk from dead people’s houses.” For a year he’s been on the lam, suspected in the murder of Owen Eaton, a rival estate clearer, what Jay calls the “rag and bone” business. Although cleared of the charges in absentia, he’d “been branded a killer in the court of public opinion.” His attempt to live off-grid was futile, posting as “Jay the Junkman” social media rants against nemeses the Lombardis.
Jay had “long railed against the Lombardi Brothers,” evil incarnate. He “was a broken man putting his life back together.” Meeting his ex to discuss possible visitation rights with their seven-year-old, Jenny says, “I swear you seek out trouble. You yearn for drama, pain, tragedy.”
In a desperate attempt to restore his former life, Jay devises a plan of snaring the Lombardis. He commits “one small crime to expose ones far worse.” Only, Michael Lombardi is fast-tracked to become a state senator, harboring aspirations for loftier political positions.
Karma plays a big part in this tale, and karma doesn’t need Jay’s help. Perhaps that’s a lesson he and readers will learn: not hang on to past failures and yearn for vengeance. The title of 2017’s entry seems to finally resonate with Jay Porter: GIVE UP THE DEAD.
As often happens in life for those with addiction issues, Joe Clifford’s fifth Jay Porter installment doesn’t portray a fairy tale happily-ever-after ending. The author strives to depict through his characters the dangers of drug addiction. In that, he succeeds. Brilliantly!
A former homeless junkie, Clifford dedicates his life to helping other ex-junkies construct platforms for creative endeavors. He pulled himself out of a drug death spiral to become a successful author.
Reviewed by L. Dean Murphy
June 2, 2019
Jay Porter can't catch a break. This is rural noir with a really really damaged and angry man as the protagonist. Jay's lost everything from his brother to his ex-wife to, for want of a better word, his stuff. He blames (rightly) the Lombardi brothers for his misery and for the misery of others. He's spent years chewing on this and now, in this novel, he's after them again. At the root of the Lombardi's sins is their exploitation of addicts at their rehab facility, which, Jay believes, they more or less stole out from under Alison (great character). I've only read the last book in the series and felt more grounded with this one than I did when I read it. It's well written and clearly carefully plotted over the series. Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC. This is dark.
June 30, 2019
Joe Clifford has created a five book series that is a MUST read. anyone that loves rooting for the everyday guy then this is your series. Hard to say much about the book except to say its an awesome installment. dont want to give anything away except to say Joe has stated this is the last book in this series, and im not very happy about it.
Was lucky enough to recieve a signed inscribed hard back copy, which i couldnt bring myself to read, didnt want to damage it in anyway, so i bought the kindle version. in his inscription, he says "enjoy this last adventure". Adventure it was, talking about the series now, one incredible ride through five books all working together to create one of my all time favorite series. Porter is a great character!!
Was lucky enough to recieve a signed inscribed hard back copy, which i couldnt bring myself to read, didnt want to damage it in anyway, so i bought the kindle version. in his inscription, he says "enjoy this last adventure". Adventure it was, talking about the series now, one incredible ride through five books all working together to create one of my all time favorite series. Porter is a great character!!
July 8, 2019
#5 in Clifford's excellent Jay Porter series is apparently the finale. Jay is still after the corrupt Lombardi family, his resources all tapped out and his ex wife and young son figuratively further away than ever before, but Jay never takes his eyes off his obsession. Gritty and raw, frustrating and compelling, complex and engrossing and yes, maybe finally some closure. I am very sorry to see this series end.
wish-list-possibles
June 5, 2019This is the latest, number 5. Good score. Low number of ratings. Pretty good scores throughout. I have number one on hold.
July 24, 2019
This is a fantastic series! Highly recommend.
May 15, 2019
Sorry to say goodbye to Jay Porter. ��
May 23, 2019
The Jay Porter series is the best thing I have read in years. There have only been two authors I have read that I can not put down and Joe Clifford is one of them. I was able to buy a copy of this early (comes out next month) and forgot about the other books I had lined up and ripped through it. I loved this book and loved this character. If you haven’t read this yet it’s like finding a show on Netflix you love that has 5 seasons already available. Drop what you’re reading and get you some Jay Porter.
July 3, 2019
The author provides readers a story in which a variety of emotions are touched and flawed characters abound. More back story than new tale, the book will catch readers interest and lead them to an ending that may not provide the answers that were truly being sought. Good read. 4 stars
My thanks to goodreads and the book's giveaway sponsors for the opportunity to obtain a copy of this book.
My thanks to goodreads and the book's giveaway sponsors for the opportunity to obtain a copy of this book.
April 14, 2020
Still one of the best
This time, Jay seems to have bottomed out , in the process discovering that revenge comes with a cost. Maybe too much. I love this series and Jay is such a realistic character on so many levels. Another excellent outing by Joe Clifford.
This time, Jay seems to have bottomed out , in the process discovering that revenge comes with a cost. Maybe too much. I love this series and Jay is such a realistic character on so many levels. Another excellent outing by Joe Clifford.
July 5, 2019
Good book
I enjoyed reading this book. It is Jay Porters struggle to rise from the low where he has landed. Interested to see where he goes to from here.
I enjoyed reading this book. It is Jay Porters struggle to rise from the low where he has landed. Interested to see where he goes to from here.
July 6, 2019
One of my favorite authors! Great read... could not put it down... finished in two days!
January 29, 2020
Another Enjoyable Joe Clifford Book
I've enjoyed all of Joe's books so far and I'm glad I have more of them to read. Good story and pacing.
I've enjoyed all of Joe's books so far and I'm glad I have more of them to read. Good story and pacing.
January 6, 2021
not sure why 5 stars...
September 26, 2020
Jay Porter is back. He is broke and basically, he is in a mess. He takes a job from an old friend…well girlfriend. And boy does this lead to trouble and it puts Jay back on the hot seat.
I just love Jay Porter. He is such a flawed character. He makes huge mistakes and bad decisions but, for some reason, I adore him. He has this magnetism which just draws you to him. He gets under your skin and stays there!
And he is up to his old mistakes in the novel. He just cannot let go of the Lombardis. He knows they are up to something and he is determined to find out what! However, Jay may lose a lot during this process.
Need a good thriller series…this is it! I have read all of these books and Jay Porter is the best!
I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.
I just love Jay Porter. He is such a flawed character. He makes huge mistakes and bad decisions but, for some reason, I adore him. He has this magnetism which just draws you to him. He gets under your skin and stays there!
And he is up to his old mistakes in the novel. He just cannot let go of the Lombardis. He knows they are up to something and he is determined to find out what! However, Jay may lose a lot during this process.
Need a good thriller series…this is it! I have read all of these books and Jay Porter is the best!
I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.
July 1, 2019
Goodreads Kindle Copy Win
Jay Porter has be running from the past year. He was looking for a hard drive that could free him from his nemeses and put them in jail for a long time. He has not seen his son and ex-wife during the time and is running short on cash as he returns to his small town.
He finds himself taking a job from an old flame as work is lacking and so is funds. All is not what it appears as evil can appear in many forms. It did not hold my attention.
Jay Porter has be running from the past year. He was looking for a hard drive that could free him from his nemeses and put them in jail for a long time. He has not seen his son and ex-wife during the time and is running short on cash as he returns to his small town.
He finds himself taking a job from an old flame as work is lacking and so is funds. All is not what it appears as evil can appear in many forms. It did not hold my attention.
November 9, 2019
I read each installment of the Jay Porter series as it came out. That's not something I can say of many series, and the Porter books were never less than satisfying. My personal favorite was #3, Give Up the Dead, but all of them worked well on their own -- and the overall arc of the story is really an impressive accomplishment. And if you suffered along with Jay and all of his self-sabotage, seeing the note on which Clifford ended Jay's travails had to bring a smile to your face.
January 9, 2021
On the fence
Jay appears to be a man whose been through the wringer. Loosing his brother and best friend, his marriage ended, lots of emotional baggage. Jay shows signs of being a decent guy, but can't seem to let the past grievances go. He does some questionable things, some terrible things, then whines when he's stuck with" visitation " for his son. I tried to like this, but ended up on the fence.
Jay appears to be a man whose been through the wringer. Loosing his brother and best friend, his marriage ended, lots of emotional baggage. Jay shows signs of being a decent guy, but can't seem to let the past grievances go. He does some questionable things, some terrible things, then whines when he's stuck with" visitation " for his son. I tried to like this, but ended up on the fence.
July 22, 2020
Interesting read- don’t know this sorry excuse of a human being can recover his life which is full of nothing: no family, no friends, job, money. But he’s left with his integrity which keeps him on the move and spurs him on. His mouth gets him in constant trouble as much as the alcoholic episodes. A daily six pack, two for breakfast- good grief.
August 6, 2020
Repetitive
Had to give up. Too much repetition of same stuff over and over. Could use heavy editing. And does anyone believe that beautiful women are throwing themselves at a smelly, decrepit drunk? And his changing his mind back and forth was really annoying. The writer has talent but needs a good editor.
Had to give up. Too much repetition of same stuff over and over. Could use heavy editing. And does anyone believe that beautiful women are throwing themselves at a smelly, decrepit drunk? And his changing his mind back and forth was really annoying. The writer has talent but needs a good editor.
December 31, 2019
Since I didn't read the 1st 4 Jay Porter books it took awhile into the book to get to know all the characters. It was however a good book to read on it's own as you have enough information to follow the storyline. Hope there is a #6 as this book just kind of ended and I was wanting more.
May 22, 2021
Not sure just what to say
I've always really liked the Jay Porter series but this one was hard. He was so self destructive it seemed to me anyway. Maybe because he didn't like the Eagles I don't know. Just left me feeling sad.
I've always really liked the Jay Porter series but this one was hard. He was so self destructive it seemed to me anyway. Maybe because he didn't like the Eagles I don't know. Just left me feeling sad.
August 13, 2019
It seemed to me there were some flaws in the storyline but the emotional state of Jay Porter came across loud and clear. Excellent character-driven story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews