What do you think?
Rate this book
Down the Hatch
Her name was Luna, like the moon. When the sun rose, it disappeared and so did she.
We met at the beach, Luna and I. At night, in the dark, in the company of a motorbike-riding, switchblade-wielding criminal. Now she was missing, and her stepmother claimed she wanted her back. She wanted her diamonds back too. The ones that went walkies along with the girl.
Well, all right, I said. I’d go look for her, and the jewels as well. Between her mother’s mysterious plane crash and her father’s violent murder, death stalked the girl like a shadow. I needed to make sure she was okay.
Meanwhile, I had trouble at home. A face from my past was back, and he’d brought far-fetched tales of enlightenment and a first-class ticket to another land. I had no intention of following, but you know what they say about the road to hell. I got my passport stamped, but good.
Now it was Luna’s life that hung in the balance. Could I save her before time ran out, or would I regret my meddling for the rest of my days?
---
Down the Hatch, the fourth in the Huck Connolly series of humorous hard-boiled mysteries, follows our plucky PI out of the fire and far, far over the rainbow. The characters are quirky, the social commentary is pointed, and the plot twists and turns so fast you’ll get dizzy. Sometimes, the whole thing even threatens to become literature.
We met at the beach, Luna and I. At night, in the dark, in the company of a motorbike-riding, switchblade-wielding criminal. Now she was missing, and her stepmother claimed she wanted her back. She wanted her diamonds back too. The ones that went walkies along with the girl.
Well, all right, I said. I’d go look for her, and the jewels as well. Between her mother’s mysterious plane crash and her father’s violent murder, death stalked the girl like a shadow. I needed to make sure she was okay.
Meanwhile, I had trouble at home. A face from my past was back, and he’d brought far-fetched tales of enlightenment and a first-class ticket to another land. I had no intention of following, but you know what they say about the road to hell. I got my passport stamped, but good.
Now it was Luna’s life that hung in the balance. Could I save her before time ran out, or would I regret my meddling for the rest of my days?
---
Down the Hatch, the fourth in the Huck Connolly series of humorous hard-boiled mysteries, follows our plucky PI out of the fire and far, far over the rainbow. The characters are quirky, the social commentary is pointed, and the plot twists and turns so fast you’ll get dizzy. Sometimes, the whole thing even threatens to become literature.
328 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 24, 2025
2 people are currently reading
3 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 26, 2025
I love Dominic Fenn’s writing, and the voices he gives his characters distinguish them so well there are moments when I don’t have to read the name of the character speaking to know who’s speaking.
This book had more twists than usual, and Fenn writes twists like second nature. The dry wit quips and running commentary are perfect and balance out the serious, sometimes dark, tone of this book.
It feels like multiple different threads and trails all throughout, that weave together and then stray far apart, and I have no idea how he writes this way. He’s a gifted author.
I have come to absolutely adore Huck, and I kinda wish she was real, but also I think I’d be intimidated a bit too.
The risks she takes, while calculated, are pretty intense and I find myself practically gripping my chair when I set the e-book down after a chapter. Or a section that’s particularly heart-racing.
The core of this story is a twisted, wrenching thing that brings all things together to a sharp, disturbing point, and the other events and discoveries surrounding that point are a mix of tragic and chilling. Huck’s involvement displays the very real effects and consequences of issues that are deliberately hushed and issues that are often exposed only after they’ve done irreparable harm despite the general warnings we all experience against falling for such things.
Dominic Fenn does a brilliant job of making Huck’s world real, with the good and the bad and the humanity of navigating between the two.
This book had more twists than usual, and Fenn writes twists like second nature. The dry wit quips and running commentary are perfect and balance out the serious, sometimes dark, tone of this book.
It feels like multiple different threads and trails all throughout, that weave together and then stray far apart, and I have no idea how he writes this way. He’s a gifted author.
I have come to absolutely adore Huck, and I kinda wish she was real, but also I think I’d be intimidated a bit too.
The risks she takes, while calculated, are pretty intense and I find myself practically gripping my chair when I set the e-book down after a chapter. Or a section that’s particularly heart-racing.
The core of this story is a twisted, wrenching thing that brings all things together to a sharp, disturbing point, and the other events and discoveries surrounding that point are a mix of tragic and chilling. Huck’s involvement displays the very real effects and consequences of issues that are deliberately hushed and issues that are often exposed only after they’ve done irreparable harm despite the general warnings we all experience against falling for such things.
Dominic Fenn does a brilliant job of making Huck’s world real, with the good and the bad and the humanity of navigating between the two.
Displaying 1 of 1 review