100 Book Challenge - Book 35 - Stirred

Book 35 / 100

Book: Stirred (Jack Daniels/Luther Kite Thriller)

Author: J.A. Konrath & Blake Crouch

ASIN: B0050KIRDC / ISBN: 9781612181462

Pages: 505

In the thrilling conclusion to both Konrath’s Jack Daniels series and Crouch’s Andrew Z. Thomas / Luther Kite series the writers pit Konrath’s heroine, Jack Daniels, against Crouch’s villain, Luther Kite in an insane battle and race against the clock.

Jack, heavily pregnant, has been living on a knife edge waiting for Luther to make the move he promised when they last met (at the end of Shaken), and it’s beginning to take its toll, on her, Phin and their unborn daughter.

With Jack’s health on the line the men in her life try to convince her to do the right thing, but Jack is spurred on by Luther’s reappearance and continued killing. But that’s just the beginning as Luther manages to kidnap Jack and her boys and deposits them somewhere worse than imaginable… A real life representation of Dante’s nine circles of Hell!

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stiff Drinks. Reading this book was bittersweet to me, it’s strange to become so attached to characters in a book that you didn’t write, but I guess that’s a sign of a great writer, they pull you in and never let you go. I admit before this book I didn’t know anything about Crouch’s Thomas/Luther books, but the character is above and beyond the worst villain Jack’s faced throughout the series, another reason it’s bittersweet.

And Luther’s real life version of Dante’s Hell… Without giving too much away, is absolutely insane in its interpretation. That alone makes reading this book worth it, even if one does feel bad for the people in there.

100 Book Challenge - Book 34 - Shaken

Book 34 / 100

Book: Shaken (Jack Daniels Mystery #7)

Author: J.A. Konrath

ASIN: B003M69XAM / ISBN: 9781935597216

Pages: 310

Shaken is essentially a story that jumps back and forth in the time, so I’ll review it in three parts… Then (Twenty One Years Ago), Then (Three Years Ago) and Now…

Then (Twenty One Years Ago).

When a young Chicago police officer Jacqueline Streng chases after a deviant soliciting hookers and catches up with him in a dumpster, she finds a gruesome discovery… The dismembered remains of an escort. Recruited by a Homicide detective named Herb Benedict, Jacqueline goes undercover as a high class escort to hunt the killer. At the same time trying to decide her future, if she really loved her boyfriend Alan Daniels, and considering his proposal.

Then (Three Years Ago).

Chicago police Lieutenant Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels and her partner Herb Benedict are hot on the trail of a suspect they believe is the worst mass serial killer they’ve ever heard of, the elusive Mr. K. With well over a hundred named on his body-count, they really don’t want to let him get away. But their suspect is ready for them and sends them on the hunt for boy who will be gone in 24 hours. But in 24 hours their suspect will be leaving for a country that doesn’t have any extradition laws.

Now.

Former Chicago police Lieutenant Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels has been kidnapped. Her boyfriend, her “brother” and her former partner must race the clock to find her before the infamous Mr. K has his way with her. Using every skill and contact the three of them have leads them to a case from twenty one years earlier and a case from three years earlier. But there’s another force out there that wants Jack for himself… Who will reach her first? And will she survive the race?

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stiff Drinks. Okay, so at the start I found the book to be a bit distracting, each chapter was set in a different time to the previous, and that caused a little bit of disjointedness. However once the story picked up speed the scene changes became smoother and easier to take. I think of all the Jack Daniels Mysteries, this was the most shocking for me, add in Jack’s revelation and then the author’s revelation at the end that the next book, Stirred, will be the end of the Jack Daniels Mysteries, it was quite a lot to take in…

100 Book Challenge - Book 33 - Cherry Bomb

Book 33 / 100

Book: Cherry Bomb (Jack Daniels Mystery #6)

Author: J.A. Konrath

ASIN: B00BB2E4K8 / ISBN: 9781482374575

Pages: 272

At the end of her last adventure, Chicago police Lieutenant Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels was sent the worst kind of message from her arch nemesis… That of a murdered loved one.

Alex Kork taunts Jack into a deadly game of cat and mouse as she works to not only take her revenge on Jack for her brother and her face, but also to get away with it. And she’s not above killing innocent civilians to do it.

As Jack chases the clues that Alex sends her in an attempt to save the lives of people Alex is intent on playing with. As Jack succeeds in saving the life of an old acquaintance of Alex’s, Alex steps up the game, using Jack’s ex husband, Alan, as the next victim.

With her career, her family, her friends and her life on the line, can Jack catch up to Alex before the death toll rises? And if she can, what then? Jail failed once for Alex, what other options are there for a police Lieutenant?

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stiff Drinks. Wow, you can tell that this book is the end of the first arc in the Jack Daniels Mysteries, it ties up all the loose ends and questions you’ve had since the first book, and more than that it seems to give Jack a new lease on life, and hopefully allows her to find some happiness in the future.

From a technical standpoint, this book is interesting because fully half of it is written from the villain’s point of view, something I’ve never heard of before, and I must say, I liked it, it makes me wonder what a book completely from the bad guy’s POV would be like…

100 Book Challenge - Book 32 - Fuzzy Navel

Book 32 / 100
Book: Fuzzy Navel (Jack Daniels Mystery #5)
Author: J.A. Konrath
ASIN: B00BB2E9E4 / ISBN: 9781401302801
Pages: 300

Hard boiled Chicago police Lieutenant Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels has been through a lot in the past few years, but nothing prepares her for this thrilling adventure.

Her day starts out with three identical sniping murders at the same time at different locations, then the news that the crazed killer Alex Kork (from Rusty Nail) killed herself while in jail. But things go downhill from there.

Unable to get in touch with her mom or her fiancé, Jack rushes to their home, only to find out that some killers are hard to kill. As if being trapped in her house with the craziest killer she knows and all the people she loves most wasn’t bad enough, it seems her work followed her home as the three snipers surround her home and begin taking their shots.

Rating: 10 out of 5 Stiff Drinks. Seriously, John McClane has easier days than this one. Konrath’s tale takes place over an 8 hour period, which is fun as that’s roughly how long it takes to read. I was seriously breathless at points, and don’t forget to be careful of the twist at the end! That said, from a technical point of view, there are a few spelling and grammar mistakes that stand out, but the story is catchy enough to overlook them.

100 Book Challenge - Book 31 - Dirty Martini

Book 31 / 100
Book: Dirty Martini (Jack Daniels Mystery #4)
Author: J.A. Konrath
ASIN: B00BB2ECFK / ISBN: 978-1401302795
Pages: 316

Chicago police Lieutenant Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels is back, and this time she's up against her toughest, and possibly scariest, adversary yet!

A sicko calling themselves "The Chemist" is spreading poison into the city's food supplies at random. But that's just the start of what they have planned. With her trusty partner, Herb, switching departments to end his career in the relative safety of the robbery division, and saddled with a new, and inexperienced, partner, Jack must find and stop The Chemist before he kills fifty thousand people in the single biggest act of terrorism the US has ever seen.

Throw in a curve ball of a proposal from her boyfriend Latham, a new Police Superintendent and a PR guy who's only goal is to save the tourism reputation of the city, and it all adds up to make this the greatest case to date!

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stiff Drinks. Oh goodness! With the exception of some typos (missing letters and incorrect capitalization) this is an amazing thrill ride, and one dandy of a mystery. J.A. Konrath has a way or weaving the tale in such a way that the true motives aren't revealed until the end

100 Book Challenge - Book 30 - Rusty Nail

Book 30 / 100

Book: Rusty Nail (Jack Daniels Mystery #3)

Author: J.A. Konrath

ASIN: B00BBE4E5Q / ISBN: 978-1482374278

Pages: 270

Jack’s Back. And again she’s neck deep in murder and death.

Someone’s sending her snuff videos, worse than that, the victims are people she has encountered before, with one connecting feature, Jack, the people were involved in her previous two major cases (Whiskey Sour and Bloody Mary).

With her partner Herb having his own health issues and after he’s targeted and hospitalized Jack has to go out on a limb and begins to follow the clues that will lead her to face her most deadly foe yet.

To solve this case she’ll have to put her career, her love life, her friends and her life all on the line. As she does, she realizes that even serial killers have families, and that blood runs thick.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stiff Drinks. Oh. My. God. This was a thrill ride, the ups and downs as Jack follows the clues and the hits on the hunt for the killer. I even liked the FBI guys in this book. The only negative point I have about this book is that I picked out the killer as soon as she entered the scene, but to have their past revealed was an interesting journey. And let me tell you, there are some real sick… Folks out there.

100 Book Challenge - Book 29 - Bloody Mary

Book 29 / 100

Book: Bloody Mary (Jack Daniels Mystery #2)

Author: J.A. Konrath

ASIN: B00BB62RZI / ISBN: 978-1401300890

Pages: 252

Take one tough but vulnerable cop, a hyperactive cat, an ailing mother, a jealous boyfriend, a high maintenance ex-husband, and a partner in the throes of a mid-life crisis, and that’s just the start of Chicago PD’s Lieutenant Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels life at the moment.

When unaccounted for body parts turn up in the morgue, wearing Jack’s handcuffs, things start getting complicated. As more parts get planted, Jack and her partner Herb close in on an accomplice, one who won’t talk because he fears for his life… His partner is a CPD police officer!

But catching the rogue officer is just half the story, from there the path gets messy as he escapes and begins a killing spree that leads straight to Jack’s apartment, her ailing mother and her lover!

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stiff Drinks. This book most definitely had me on the edge of my seat, a rip-roaring ride. It’s not often that a book can shock me with the way the characters act, but this one had a villain that really knocked me for six. I will caution though, this story does get rather bloody, and you might find out more about bad guys than you wish…