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Barn Politics
Horses are dying in Hunt Country and Jordan Pascoe, fresh out of vet school, is roped into an investigation. Ruth Wallace, an ambitious claims adjuster, smells a scam and knows exposing fraud could be her key to advancement in an insurance company out over a million in claims. She requires discretion and the young doctor can be controlled with the threat of help, and keep it quiet, or she informs the Board he continues to gamble on races and violate probation. Pascoe digs into the baffling cases and a member of the privileged horsey set is murdered. Convinced of a connection, he asks tough questions and unsettles a society bent on knowing their neighbors' secrets and holding tight to their own. Pascoe, ill-suited for intrigue, discovers treachery in the shadow of the Blue Ridge and is soon fighting to protect his reputation, his career, and when he uncovers the truth, his life. Barn Politics is a mystery novel that combines qualities of House and All Creatures Great and Small , though the countryside is less English and much more dangerous.
216 pages, Paperback
First published September 15, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 17, 2018
Nice to read a horsey mystery written by a vet so the medicine isn’t cringey. The way they were killing horses was actually pretty legit, and yay a pathologist was involved in solving it! (Can’t decide if I’m happy he actually included one female who isn’t a total knockout, with her bodacious figure described in excessive detail, and is basically Garcia from Criminal minds, or annoyed that the pathologist is the stereotypical unattractive nerd, whose unattractive ness is also described ad nauseum - and attributed to her career).
But the book has a lot of typos and grammar issues and could’ve used some heavy duty editing. As usual, the protagonist is your stereotypical flawed mystery hero and of course looks like the author, so obviously every female in the book wants to hook up with him immediately. And when he gets called out on it, the woman he’s seeing just shrugs it off and gets over him lying and not-quite-cheating on her and is back to wanting to have sex with him (while her disabled brother is a murder suspect). A lot of unpleasant characters, all kind of written in that same “no bullshitting”, crude, unprofessional and aggressive way everyone in these types of books talks. All the generic horse mystery book trope characters show up and the mystery kind of drags with little reward or surprise. Hard to find a mystery where everyone isn’t ridiculously unpleasant, but kinda in the same way, and when the author avatar isn’t having to turn away constant advances to progress the plot. And then a nauseating ending full of weird disgustingness.
Also, idk where he went to vet school, but we sure covered ionophore toxicity at my school.
But the book has a lot of typos and grammar issues and could’ve used some heavy duty editing. As usual, the protagonist is your stereotypical flawed mystery hero and of course looks like the author, so obviously every female in the book wants to hook up with him immediately. And when he gets called out on it, the woman he’s seeing just shrugs it off and gets over him lying and not-quite-cheating on her and is back to wanting to have sex with him (while her disabled brother is a murder suspect). A lot of unpleasant characters, all kind of written in that same “no bullshitting”, crude, unprofessional and aggressive way everyone in these types of books talks. All the generic horse mystery book trope characters show up and the mystery kind of drags with little reward or surprise. Hard to find a mystery where everyone isn’t ridiculously unpleasant, but kinda in the same way, and when the author avatar isn’t having to turn away constant advances to progress the plot. And then a nauseating ending full of weird disgustingness.
Also, idk where he went to vet school, but we sure covered ionophore toxicity at my school.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 13, 2015
I loved thsi book! I am a huge fan of suspense and murder mysteries and "Barn Politics" truly fits that genre. You will find that you won't want to put it down until you know who is behind the animal (and human) cruelty. And Philip Marshall keeps you guessing right up to the end as to who the villain is - I changed my mind about 3 times.
I highly recommend "Barn Politics" to anyone whether you are in the "horsey set" or not. You don't have to be part of that world to enjoy reading about Dr. Pascoe and his clientele.
I highly recommend "Barn Politics" to anyone whether you are in the "horsey set" or not. You don't have to be part of that world to enjoy reading about Dr. Pascoe and his clientele.
September 10, 2011
This book was so appealing at the beginning I couldn't put it down. Many mysteries to solve in one book. Very fast paced book that leaves you wanting to read more about the main character. The conclusion is sudden and very satisfying. I would never have guess the ending. I hope there is a second book coming soon.
(This was a Kindle ebook. Amazon needs to do a better job of editing their Kindle books...this one was a mess.)
(This was a Kindle ebook. Amazon needs to do a better job of editing their Kindle books...this one was a mess.)
April 21, 2010
Love Dick Francis novels, and while this is not as well written, it still has a familiarity about it.
Great character development - mystery, romance, death and skeletons in the closet.
:)
Great character development - mystery, romance, death and skeletons in the closet.
:)
February 1, 2013
I really enjoyed this book, though I was also impressed with the amount of errors in the text.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews