Sometimes it takes a stranger to find a killer…

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

I’m the one who sells Mick his beer. Every night when he leaves the Tavern he’s like a puppet with the strings cut.

Fletcher knew it was uncharitable to understand why Walt had found comfort in the arms of another woman, but the pernicious Mrs. Renard had stripped him of his desire to see her in a positive light… he couldn’t see her as the killer. He figured that would be too quick, too painless for a woman like her. That she’d be the type who’d gladly cut her own nose off to spite someone else’s face. She’d want to make her husband suffer, to have him regret his dalliance every time she gave him a look or chastising word. She would prefer to execute him with a thousand verbal cuts than a knife to the heart or a slash to the throat.

Dressed as he was in a black suit with white shirt and black tie, the caller was either an FBI Special Agent, or an out-of-work actor who was about to attend an audition for a remake of Reservoir Dogs.

Like so many other librarians he’d met, she had a pair of reading glasses hanging against her chest on what Wendy referred to as a “granny chain.”

She was late forties to early fifties and had the look of someone who’d ambushed more than one bottle of wine.

My Review:

I relish Mr. Ryder’s descriptions and character development, I found myself looking forward to the introduction of each new character to delight in the witty and pithy manner in which he would describe them. His humor went a long way in easing the unrelenting tension facing the tightly coiled main protagonists.

This was a complicated and gritty tale that I would never have unraveled under my own steam. I struggled some with the number and length of the violent physical conflicts poor Fletcher had to endure. This installment would undoubtedly be more popular and exciting for bloodthirsty readers as it was heavy with pages and pages of brutal physical altercations, and combative knife fights in minute blow-by-blow detail.   And while I understand that may be thrilling to some, it grew tiresome for me. I wanted my clever hero to get back to the snarky observations and amusing and slick displays of one-upmanship.   Not that I have ever behaved in such a manner 😉

John Ryder is a former farmworker and joiner. He’s turned his hand to many skills to put food on the table and clothes on his back. A life-long bibliophile, he eventually summoned the courage to try writing himself, and his Grant Fletcher novels have drawn inspiration from authors such as Lee Child, Tom Cain, Zoe Sharp, and Matt Hilton. When it comes to future novels, he says he has more ideas than time to write them.

When not writing, John enjoys spending time with his son, reading, and socializing with friends. A fanatic supporter of his local football team, he can often be found shouting encouragement to men much younger and fitter than he is.

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