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Josh Griffin Mystery Series #1
Unplayable Lie
Texas journalist Josh Griffin lives for scoops, but he's never faced real danger to get one. Nor has he ever been emotionally drawn into his stories. Then he gets an anonymous tip that teenaged golf superstar Lexi Carlisle has been kidnapped, and Josh embarks on an investigation destined to change his life forever. Lexi Carlisle is the daughter of Josh's college sweetheart; watching Amanda agonize over her missing daughter while refuting police insinuations that she had something to do with the crime is more than Josh can handle. And when he unravels the web of lies spun by Lexi's crazed kidnapper -- who has killed once and isn't afraid to do so again -- Josh realizes the story takes second place to the girl's rescue.
404 pages, Paperback
First published October 15, 2017
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December 4, 2017
A strong début...
Thirteen-year-old Lexi Carlisle is already famous in her home state of Texas. A budding golf player, she looks set to be a future champion. When she goes missing, the police and even her parents think at first that maybe she's just off doing something she doesn't want her parents to know about – she's a good kid but she's at that rebellious stage. But when time goes on, worry turns to fear – and then the ransom note arrives. Meantime, local journalist Josh Griffin is hanging onto his job by his fingernails – he needs a big story and he needs it soon. So when he gets a tip-off about Lexi's disappearance, at first he's thrilled. But Lexi's mother, Amanda, was Josh's college sweetheart and he soon finds himself torn between getting the scoop and helping Amanda find her daughter...
This is Caleigh O'Shea's début novel and before I begin I shall make my usual disclaimer – under her real name, Caleigh is a long-term blog buddy of mine, so you should assume that there may be some bias in my review. However, as always, I'll try to be as honest as possible.
The book is a traditional thriller – ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events – and O'Shea has used this format very effectively. The pacing is excellent – the story keeps moving along, with time for us to get to know the main characters but without too much back story holding up the flow. Although the series title suggests Josh will be the main character, in fact Amanda is the character we spend most time with.
Truthfully, I didn't find either of them particularly appealing in the early chapters. Josh seems deeply unsympathetic to Amanda's worry over her daughter, getting quite huffy when she makes it clear that giving him a good story isn't her primary concern. Equally, Amanda seemed quite cold and controlled considering the circumstances, reacting too calmly and almost unfeelingly to major events which should, I felt, have upset her hugely. I also felt that while Nee-Hi, Amanda's little dog, brought a lot of warmth into the story, humanising Amanda's character, there were perhaps too many repetitions of the day-to-day stuff of dog-caring – letting him out to pee, feeding him, putting him in and out of his carry box, etc.
However, I warmed to both of them as time went on. (Josh and Amanda, that is. I didn't need to warm to Nee-Hi – I fell in love with him immediately!) Josh gradually begins to get his priorities right, and in the later chapters especially we see more deeply into Amanda's feelings. By the halfway point I had grown to like them both and was therefore fully invested in their welfare as the action ramped up in the second half. I wondered, as I often do with débuts, whether the book had been written linearly – the second half feels much more skilled in showing emotion realistically than the first, as if O'Shea's style and, perhaps, confidence had been developing as she went along.
The plot is more complex than it first appears – this is no random kidnapping of a rich kid. There's a motive here, and a mystery which gives Josh a chance to use his journalistic skills to uncover what's really going on. The police are involved but their suspicions are centred on this being some kind of domestic thing between Lexi's divorced parents, so Amanda and Josh have to do their own investigating. And in true thriller fashion, eventually all the strands come together in a dramatic but credible denouement, in which I was delighted that neither Amanda nor Josh suddenly turned into unbelievable superheroes. For my liking, the body count was a little high, with a couple of events that I didn't feel were necessary and which made the story rather bleaker than my taste runs to, but that's a subjective point.
Overall, then, a strong début with a good plot, great pacing, an exciting and believable climax, and main characters whom I grew to care about. I'm looking forward to seeing how Caleigh, Josh (and maybe Amanda?) develop as the series progresses.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Thirteen-year-old Lexi Carlisle is already famous in her home state of Texas. A budding golf player, she looks set to be a future champion. When she goes missing, the police and even her parents think at first that maybe she's just off doing something she doesn't want her parents to know about – she's a good kid but she's at that rebellious stage. But when time goes on, worry turns to fear – and then the ransom note arrives. Meantime, local journalist Josh Griffin is hanging onto his job by his fingernails – he needs a big story and he needs it soon. So when he gets a tip-off about Lexi's disappearance, at first he's thrilled. But Lexi's mother, Amanda, was Josh's college sweetheart and he soon finds himself torn between getting the scoop and helping Amanda find her daughter...
This is Caleigh O'Shea's début novel and before I begin I shall make my usual disclaimer – under her real name, Caleigh is a long-term blog buddy of mine, so you should assume that there may be some bias in my review. However, as always, I'll try to be as honest as possible.
The book is a traditional thriller – ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events – and O'Shea has used this format very effectively. The pacing is excellent – the story keeps moving along, with time for us to get to know the main characters but without too much back story holding up the flow. Although the series title suggests Josh will be the main character, in fact Amanda is the character we spend most time with.
Truthfully, I didn't find either of them particularly appealing in the early chapters. Josh seems deeply unsympathetic to Amanda's worry over her daughter, getting quite huffy when she makes it clear that giving him a good story isn't her primary concern. Equally, Amanda seemed quite cold and controlled considering the circumstances, reacting too calmly and almost unfeelingly to major events which should, I felt, have upset her hugely. I also felt that while Nee-Hi, Amanda's little dog, brought a lot of warmth into the story, humanising Amanda's character, there were perhaps too many repetitions of the day-to-day stuff of dog-caring – letting him out to pee, feeding him, putting him in and out of his carry box, etc.
However, I warmed to both of them as time went on. (Josh and Amanda, that is. I didn't need to warm to Nee-Hi – I fell in love with him immediately!) Josh gradually begins to get his priorities right, and in the later chapters especially we see more deeply into Amanda's feelings. By the halfway point I had grown to like them both and was therefore fully invested in their welfare as the action ramped up in the second half. I wondered, as I often do with débuts, whether the book had been written linearly – the second half feels much more skilled in showing emotion realistically than the first, as if O'Shea's style and, perhaps, confidence had been developing as she went along.
The plot is more complex than it first appears – this is no random kidnapping of a rich kid. There's a motive here, and a mystery which gives Josh a chance to use his journalistic skills to uncover what's really going on. The police are involved but their suspicions are centred on this being some kind of domestic thing between Lexi's divorced parents, so Amanda and Josh have to do their own investigating. And in true thriller fashion, eventually all the strands come together in a dramatic but credible denouement, in which I was delighted that neither Amanda nor Josh suddenly turned into unbelievable superheroes. For my liking, the body count was a little high, with a couple of events that I didn't feel were necessary and which made the story rather bleaker than my taste runs to, but that's a subjective point.
Overall, then, a strong début with a good plot, great pacing, an exciting and believable climax, and main characters whom I grew to care about. I'm looking forward to seeing how Caleigh, Josh (and maybe Amanda?) develop as the series progresses.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Displaying 1 of 1 review