As stated in my review of the first book, I'm listening to the free Audible offering of all five books in this series from Nick Pirog. I discovered the series after a similar offer led me to his Thomas Prescott novels.
This is a smooth transition from his first book of this series, six months after the fact. Henry is still a day-trader, making a financial killing so he doesn't have to worry about his condition that causes him to sleep 23 hours a day, only staying awake from 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. He has a girlfriend who doesn't seem to mind only spending that one hour with him a couple times a week. Considering she's a homicide detective, it's likely this relationship suits her just fine. He has a housekeeper that we never see, only hear about how she takes care of all his daily needs such as food prepping, cleaning, setting up his Amazon purchases when they arrive, etc. And he has a loving father who seems like an amazing man who has raised his son after his wife walked out on them both when Henry was 6 years old.
The suspension of belief required to get through these stories is still present in this book. We find out that Henry's association with the President of the United States continues, even to the point of 3 a.m. poker games with his dad and the POTUS. Ok. Ok. Do any of us Goodreaders REALLY know what the president does behind closed doors or how he/she gets about undetected at all hours of the day? No. No we do not. So, ok. I'll accept this. It's a school-boy fantasy that a dude can be financially independent, solve crimes and be besties with the POTUS, including one-upping his secret service crew.
I'll also accept that Bins has a really wonderful relationship with his super-duper highly intelligent rescue kitty Lassie. Lassie the wonder cat does all kinds of awesome tricks at Bins' command, and they have literal conversations that Pirog uses as an expository tool as well as a source of humor to lighten the mood. Ok. I like it. I'm ok with this.
What I CAN'T get past in this book is that the conversations Bins has with Lassie are not limited to just a cat dude talking to his only companion at 3 a.m. These conversations expand faaaar beyond the boundary of exposition to become sentient dialogue where plots are created and agreed upon – not only by Lassie the cat, but by Bins' dad and HIS dog. At one point, Henry, his dad, the dog and the cat, carry out a full-blown black ops switch and bait where the animals acted as decoys on command, fooling the secret service into believing they are incapacitated whilst Henry's dad scoots off into the night leading the SS to follow him away from Henry so Henry can make his way across state in his dad's car.
These are the plot points I watched as a child in the Benjie and Cat From Outer Space movies back in the 1970s. These are fun in fantasyland but are in no way believable plot devices in a story where at all other turns the author seems to be trying to create a legitimate, riveting whodunit. Again, this series has all the high-action tropes of a super spy thriller but the silliness of a cozy mystery and it just doesn't quite know which table to sit at. And the fact that – again, a guy who has only been awake one hour a day for his entire life – the protagonist has NO special training or education, he just happens to be über-smart and crafty, figuring out the most obtuse set of clues AND leads a pack of characters consisting of veteran police, secret service, and the POTUS trailing behind him as he makes his way to the reveal.
Don't get me started on all the things Henry accomplishes in one hour. I don't know about you, but I blinked and my 40s disappeared. The only time time slows down for most of us is between lunch and 5pm? When you're out and about in the game, getting stuff done and your blood is pumping, an hour is GONE in no time flat.
I get it, Henry has learned to make the most of literally every second of his hour of wakefulness. But to tromp through the woods...find a hidden door...climb into a dark basement and reveal a murderer while being beaten all within 40 minutes.
It just makes NO SENSE...
...except...oh...yeah: Henry's mother. There's the game changer right there as she is the one character who may be Henry Bins' saving grace regarding allllllll the questions. We are given a glimpse into Henry's lineage as well as his condition. The truth behind both is rather heartbreaking yet tinged with hope for a normal future. There was a line in the first book that mentioned Henry always falls asleep at 3 a.m., no matter where he is in the world, no matter what time zone. My little WTF radar picked up on that leading me to ask myself if it is in fact a psychological condition rather than a medical one. And here we are...getting a somewhat reasonable explanation of what on earth is going on with Henry. We may learn not only why he always falls asleep at 3 a.m., but just where he might get his super-sleuthing shenanigans skills from. It's not from his technical writing dad, so mom is an important device that makes me want to learn more.
Damn you Pirog. You've hooked me onto #3.
EDIT: Holy cats. If you've read this far, thank you, and if you've made it to this point in the series...keep going. Trust me.