Furlough

by Jacob Moon

Freed after a five-year prison stint for a crime he did not commit, Eddie Grassle is looking to make a fresh start. His main to unite with the young child he has never met. But a fateful decision lands Eddie back in jail, this time as an unwitting accomplice to a murder. Convinced he is headed to prison for life, Eddie executes a brazen jailbreak in the desperate hope of finding and meeting his son. Standing in his way are an army of police, the unforgiving woods and swamps of southwest Florida, and a mysterious killer sent to find him before he is re-captured. Sensing holes in Eddie’s case, a veteran homicide detective must battle the corrupt head prosecutor— as well as ghosts of her own past—to hopefully recapture him alive. With only thirty-six hours before he promises to turn himself in, Eddie must overcome nearly impossible odds to succeed at what he feels is his only chance at salvation.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Crime

554 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 9, 2020

About the author

Jacob began reading voraciously as a teen, enjoying everything from Stephen King to Agatha Christie to 19th and 20th Century classics. Although he still enjoys many of those authors and books, his taste as an adult has evolved to include literary, historical nonfiction, and contemporary crime authors.

Jacob is also the published author of over thirty short stories, most notably a title that appeared in 'The Saturday Evening Post.' He self-published his three crime novels, all standalones. The most recent, 'Letter 26,' won the 2025 Maxy Award for Best Horror & Suspense Novel.

In his free time Jacob enjoys sports, traveling, and playing guitar. His work-in-progress is a memoir chronicling his many harrowing jail experiences.

Learn more at:
https://www.writerjake.com
https://www.instagram.com/writer_jake...
https://www.tiktok.com/@writer_jake_727

Reviews

[Kathryn in FL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of thrills and suspense in a fast paced drama, Florida style.

Jacob Moon delivers a fast-pasted story of Eddie Grassle’s imprisonment for wrongful charges of two counts of murder. It’s a sharply written narrative makes the reader feel as though he is in the midst of the action that seems to be non-stop after the first few chapters. There were several times, I was truly so involved with the drama that I was holding my breathe with anticipation over what was unfolding. This suspense was so intense, that I read hours past my bedtime and took the book with me to catch a few paragraphs, while in the doctor’s office or waiting for my food order delivery.

Moon is a master of his craft and I was thoroughly impressed with his dexterity to move the story forward as scenes kept shifting. The other characters also made the story interesting, especially the African American detective, Riggins, that is true to herself and the integrity of the law she agreed to uphold.

The story begins with Eddie’s excited focus on his upcoming, first ever encounter with his five-year-old son, Liam. Liam was born while Eddie served hard time for his best friend, Jules’ crime. Eddie is not bitter, now he yearns to connect with Liam and fantasizes of a healthy, lifelong father-son relationship. Then Jules calls and Eddie agrees to meet with Jules for a beer and after Jules gets high, he robs a store enroute to dropping Eddie home.

The police tag Eddie as the mastermind and accessory to the death of the convenience store employee. No one believes Eddie’s account of the event details, not even the Detectives Riggins or Sanchez, the primary investigators. Eddie is immediately held for trial. Eddie persists in claiming innocence and soon Riggins decides that she isn’t wholly sold on his guilt. However, other forces are at work and Riggins is removed from the case. This no ordinary case in her book and Eddie is not a quitter. Soon both find themselves deep down a rabbit hole.

I liked the characters in the story, especially the true villains. Moon manages to place humor in certain areas providing necessary comic relief. Eddie is someone you went to school with and always shook your head at his less than stellar ability to think through his decisions. A young man, who was always in his own way, his own worst enemy but his drive is admirable.

Moon’s debut has a lot of strengths to recommend it. I found the story’s setting very realistic, a deep south Florida coastal locale in a fictional county and the secondary characters accurate. He also gets a bullseye for his portrayal of the justice system southern style.

I'm definitely a fan. I hope Jacob Moon is diligently creating his next hit!


Recommend for those who enjoy: Michael Robotham, Daniel Silva, Dennis LeHane and Allen Eskins.

Trigger Warnings of Extreme Violence in one particular scene. No gratuitous sex, rape or other violence.

[Tony Parsons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Springwood, FL. April 25, 2016, One-Stop’s façade. Edward “Eddie” T. Grassle (24, Liam’s father, former Herman Manufacturing Co. machine press operator) had been released from prison after 5 yrs.
He bought Liam (5) some candy.
121 Schofield Lane Springwood proper. Clarissa Fulton (ex-fiancé, mother) wasn’t thrilled to see

Mathias had failed to provide litigation data to the governor’s office. They were asking him to resign.
What was in the envelope that Alan received from Mathias?
Julius “Jules” Sanders (26, British) called Eddie & wanted to see him.
Rat’s Nest bar. Rhonda (waitress) brought them their drinks.
4/26, One-Stop convenience store (Meadow Dr.). Eddie looked out Jules Mustang window & couldn’t believe what just happened.
2 police cruisers with their sirens & emergency lights blazing were just a block away.
Jules & Eddie didn’t make it very far.
Sr. Sheriff/Detective Alice Riggins (Calusa County Homicide) & Sheriff/Detective “Sanny” Sanchez (30, Hispanic, Calusa County Homicide partner) arrived at the crime scene.
Esteban Mendez-Rodriguez (61, Cuban, One-Stop convenience store clerk) had been shot/killed by Jules.
The ME & CSI were hard at work.
Julius was killed & Eddie is under guard at Springwood Memorial Hospital.
Clarissa switched the TV off as Liam looked on.

State Attorney Mathias Hood held a press conference.
Clarissa went to visit Eddie “Ed” Grassle (23).
Sergeant Weeks went to tell Superintendent Claude Devereux (Calusa County Jail) there was an escape.
Captain Odom called out the bloodhounds, they’d find Eddie.
Captain Escobar called on the Patrol K’9s, the armed 6-man, 2-woman SWAT members, & the Special Ops 5-man Team Leader Hutchinson to find Eddie also.
Sheriff Bo “Silver Fox” Driscoll (63), Deputy Sheriff Collins, Mathias, Lieutenant Fisher, & Jail Superintendent Claude Devereux was keeping close tabs on the search.
Why did Paolo Bruzzi (attorney) go see Superintendent Devereux?
Calusa County Criminal Courthouse A press conference was being held.

Elizabeth had been shot/killed. Eddie was long gone again.
Sr. Sheriff/Detective Riggins & Sheriff/Detective Sanchez had arrived.
Eddie Grassle was still out there somewhere.
The 5-man SWAT members search team spied the building site just 100 yards away.
Captain Escobar coordinated the search from afar.
The EMT’s were attending to Lieutenant/Sheriff Heinke (Calusa County Homicide).
Captain Escobar did not know Sr. Sheriff/Detective Riggins was there.
She called Sheriff/Detective Sanchez & they both went to the Springwood Regional Hospital to see how Lieutenant/Sheriff Heinke was.
At a construction site not far from there Paolo Bruzzi (former CIA op) had fallen 10 stories from a building & died upon impact.
Springwood Regional Hospital in Calusa County PD custody Sheriff/Detective Riggins & Sheriff/Detective Sanchez went to interrogate Eddie.

How will Eddie’s trail turn out?
Akron, OH. How about Clarissa (mother) & Liam’s (son) future?

I do not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing free books from publishers & authors. Therefore, I am under no obligation to write a positive review, only an honest one.

Warning: This book contains descriptive accounts of extremely graphic adult content, violence (murder), or expletive language &/or uncensored sexually explicit material (minor/adult verbal, psychological, emotional, physical & sexual abuse) which is only suitable for mature readers. It may be offensive or have potential adverse psychological effects on the reader. If you are especially sensitive to this type of material, it is strongly advised not to read any further.

An awesome book cover, great font & writing style. A very professionally written crime thriller book. It was quite easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters & facts to keep track of. This could also make another great crime thriller movie, or better yet a mini-TV series. There is no doubt in my mind this is an amazingly easy rating of 5 stars.

Thank you for the free Author; Goodreads; Making Connections; Making Connections discussion group talk; PDF book
Tony Parsons MSW (Washburn)

[Nichole Winsor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won a copy of this amazing book through Goodreads giveaways. Let me preface this review by saying that if you are someone who, like I do, judges a book less critically when it is the author's first - you really won't need to with this one, it is more than capable of standing on it's own.

Though the novel is not a short one by any stretch of the imagination, it was actually a pretty fast read (I finished it in 2 days). It is well written, the story and characters are very well developed and it did not have the usual issue with longer novels of this genre. Instead of the typical situation where there is tangent of background on a certain character and you're waiting for it to get back to the current story, the opposite seems to happen here. You find yourself actually looking forward to more of the background info to allow you to better understand the people involved. Make sure you don't pick this book up unless you have a decent amount of time available to spend reading, as you will not want to put it down.

[Kym Gamble · Rating 4 out of 5]

A man's quest to see his son whom he has never met because he was in prison. Someone wants him dead, another feels the need to help him after he gets into more trouble after being released from prison. He escapes prison all in the need to find his son. I liked the book. It wasn't a 5-star but a solid 4.

[Lewis Kempfer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eddie Grassle is having a bad day. No, he’s having a bad life. No matter what he does, he manages he step into another snare. I can relate to Eddie Grassle. He’s a fairly well developed character with a sole mission and will stop at nothing until he completes it. Many of the other characters were one-dimensional. I don’t usually read crime novels for two reasons: I don’t have a working knowledge of the hierarchy of law enforcement and know nothing about guns other than my own brother put one to his head. I won’t give away any plot, but there’s a pursuit that encompasses probably 3/4 of this novel. While the story held my attention, I honestly couldn’t wait for it to end. I read the ebook so I don’t know how many pages the print edition has but I felt strongly the book could have easily shed 50 to 100 pages and been stronger. The book is very well edited; I couldn’t find a single typo. But the author’s frequent use of the words “wan” and “wanly” had me ready to throw my Kindle across the room. I also kept hoping for an “aha” moment that would make the book’s title make sense, but alas it never happened. I think this author is promising but needs to be a little more ruthless with cutting content.

[Jason Pettus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm thrilled to announce that one of the books I worked on as a freelancer in 2020 has finally finished its production cycle and is currently in bookstores! It's a nicely meaty crime novel set in southwest Florida, in which we watch three separate storylines intermingle and crisscross, including a young man who's been arrested for a crime he didn't commit (and suddenly has a random opportunity to escape from the county jail where he's being held); the Black female cop who comes to realize that she may have arrested the wrong person; and the corrupt State Attorney who becomes obsessively determined to destroy the young man no matter what the cost. Keep my biases in mind, of course, but I personally think it's a pretty great novel, and certainly one of the most fun ones I've worked on this year (working with him after his time with a dedicated developmental editor, my role was to help him cut his enormous manuscript down by 20 percent without losing any of the story or character development), and I strongly recommend it to fans of Elmore Leonard and David Baldacci, or anyone who enjoys a tightly plotted thriller filled with interesting and memorable characters.

[Erica Li · Rating 4 out of 5]

Furlough was definitely entertaining, but I feel like it was a little bit too long, given that a majority of the book was a chase. Our main character, Eddie, stressed me out. 😂 I enjoyed all of the different ties made between corrupt figures in the story. I audio-booked to help get through it, but in the audio version, pertinent conversations were missed because of the muffled phone conversations. Overall, it's not my typical style of read, but it wasn't bad!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was simply stunning. I was hooked from the beginning. This debut novel follows Eddie Grassle, a young man who has just been released from a five year prison stint (for a crime he didn't commit) only to land himself back in trouble with the law, for yet another crime he didn't commit. To make matters worse, this newfound trouble prevents him from doing the one thing he wants more than anything else - meeting his son for the first time. As if that wasn't enough, Eddie is also plagued by sinister forces seeking more than justice. The tale is gripping, well-written, and absolutely took me on an emotional journey as well -I laughed, cried, and felt my heart race on more than one occasion. It offers a look at the justice system, individual choice, relationships, parenthood, and more. I fell in love with many of the characters. I couldn't ask for more! I will read everything Jacob Moon writes.

[Amanda- LateNightReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic! It was extremely fast paced. Also, the story line just grabbed me really early on and didn't let go. Jacob Moon has a great, easy to read but smart writing style. It also brought up a lot of feelings for me as I spend a few years in prison myself. But this poor guy, he had it really rough. And moon made me feel all of it. It was amazing.

Thanx Jacob for the freebie. I really appreciated it. Sorry I took forever! But I was so happy to read it and would love to read for you again. Keep up the fantastic work.

[S. MacAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an awesome balance of gritty realism and good old-fashioned story telling. Characters are convincing in all their flaws and redeeming features and the action is fast paced Throughout.
The hero is a man beset by disasters, many of them of his own making, but manages to be likable without being pitiable. His story is one to keep you guessing throughout, and the conclusion is satisfyingly unexpected.
A great read for anyone who enjoys thrillers, suspense and action

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great crime novel that will take readers on an action-packed ride!

Eddie Grassle has just been released from jail after having served a 5 year sentence when he took the fall for his lifelong friend, Jules, over a drug charge. Knowing that with the priors Jules had he would go to jail for a very long time, Eddie decided to take the blame even knowing that his girlfriend was pregnant with their son. When Eddie is finally released, he's determined to turn over a new leaf. He contacts his ex-girlfriend, Clarissa, and asks to meet his son, Liam. Clarissa agrees but only if Eddie promises to have nothing to do with Jules again.

On the night before he's scheduled to meet Liam, Eddie agrees to meet up with Jules one last time for old time's sake. Unfortunately, that one last time will have a lifelong impact on Eddie, as the meeting doesn't go as planned.

When Eddie finds himself in trouble again due to Jules, the only person who believes his story is Officer Riggins, who is just a few months away from retiring from the force. Will Officer Riggins be able to set things right for Eddie?

I loved this overall story and thought the author did a great job of putting together all the details. I thought the story had some unique aspects to it that most crime novels don't. I also loved the fact that you really got to know Eddie's character and he was someone that it was easy to like and cheer for. My only criticism of the book is that it is very long, so it felt like the pace was a bit slow. I think with some editing and elimination of some of the details - for example, I didn't need a full page on how a certain fingerprinting technique worked - the pace would have been much faster and made the book better.

Great writing and would definitely seek out other books from this author.

I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Gail Baugniet · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story begins with a promise of redemption for a man who just cannot catch a break. Some would call him a chump, others the perfect friend. After serving time for a crime his buddy committed, reasoning that the buddy would never survive a prison sentence, Eddie Grassle enjoys his first three weeks of freedom in the Florida sun. But his buddy, who Eddie decides to meet one last time for old times’ sake, gets him involved in yet another crime. This one sends Eddie on a journey of incarceration and escape, followed by one catastrophic event after another - running from the law while attempting to reach his only goal in life.

Eddie’s son was born while he was serving time for his buddy’s crime. All Eddie wants is to see his son. But because Eddie just cannot catch a break, he spends his “Furlough” from prison life getting hunted, beaten up, and shot at. He can understand the law chasing him, but who is trying to kill him?

The narrative of this story is excellent, well-balanced with action, dialogue, and introspection. The reader gets to know Eddie without having to fully understand his reasoning. Who in their right mind would serve a jail sentence for a self-absorbed, mindless buddy?

On the law side of the story is Alice Riggins, Homicide Detective, soon to be retired. She smells something funny about the Eddie Grassle case and wants to find out the truth about his guilt or innocence so she can retire with a free conscience. Her role in the story balances out that of Eddie’s, and leads to a satisfying ending.

My choice of 4-stars for Furlough is because, for me, any novel over 300 pages needs to be very, very good, which this story is; but any book over 500 pages needs to be written by Stephen King.

I requested a free copy of Furlough from the author to read and review through Goodreads group Making Connections.

[Karen Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jacob Moon takes us on a powerful and relentless journey in Furlough! Eddie Grassle has been in prison, and all he wants is to meet his son. But his choices, and forces out of his control, are hell bent on keeping that from happening. Moon teases us and catapults us through the air, and we have no idea where we may land! Good luck putting Furlough down until you finish the whole book!

[Kim Hendricks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first book by Mr. Jacob Moon and I'm pretty sure, not my last! This book kept me interested and intrigued the entire way! I couldn't put it down, I had to know more. So well written, the events played out in my mind like a movie. I even held my breath a few times toward the end! I highly recommend this book!

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my favorite reads! It was a great storyline that kept you on the edge of your seat. The details were incredibly well done without becoming daunting. I can't wait to read more from Jacob Moon!

[kathy dooley · Rating 3 out of 5]

C

It was readable, but not believable. Eddie did not ring true as a protagonist and the remaining ing were. Caricsrp

[Bob Rutkowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met the author and gave the book a chance. Way better than I expected. I’ll definitely try more of his books.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

[Sammi Sanz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book, great story, very suspenseful.