Stateline
by Dave Stanton
Blurb:
Cancel the wedding–the groom is dead.
When a tycoon’s son is murdered the night before his wedding, the enraged and grief-stricken father offers private detective Dan Reno a life-changing bounty to find the killer. Reno, nearly broke, figures he’s finally landed in the right place at the right time. It’s a nice thought, but when a band of crooked cops get involved, Reno finds himself not only earning every penny of his paycheck, but also fighting for his life.
Who committed the murder, and why? Which cops can he trust, if any? Haunted by his murdered father and a violent, hard drinking past, Reno wants no more blood on his hands. But a man’s got to make a living, and backing off is not in his DNA. Traversing the snowy alpine winter in the Sierras and the lonely deserts of Nevada, Reno must revert to his old ways to survive. Because the fat bounty won’t do him much good if he’s dead.
Review:
Initial impressions…like the character, character-driven language with content and the sexual tone, rough, slightly uncomfortable around Chapter 12, some racist language that fits the characters/scene. Mike Hammer-ish?
Not a cozy PI read, let’s be clear from the start. Drugs, drink, hookers, murder, violence, not you’re easy Sunday afternoon read…unless you’re looking for an easy gritty Sunday smack in the face type of read.
As smooth moving as this story was, I couldn’t read it quickly. Reading some other reviews, I’m pretty much in agreement with them.
Mr. Stanton has delivered a PI punch that gives me what I’ve been missing since I read all the Mike Hammer books available.
Would I recommend this to my mom, nope. Not her reading choice. Would I recommend to my husband, sure. To you? Given what I’ve mentioned above, if this meets your reading likes, yes, I recommend.
What I’m more interested in…can Mr. Stanton follow through on book two? I have book two lined up to start reading as soon as I’m done here and I’m looking forward to the read. Reading the blurb for book two I forgot all about the character Cody Gibbons, how I did that I’m surprised because he’s a fun character.
When an author has me interested in their next book, well, that’s a sign I’ve been hooked…again, can they keep me hooked?
Bottom line…if you enjoy hard-boiled, unapologetic, semi-messy blunt PI stories, you won’t be disappointed. BTW, just noticed there are at least eight Dan Reno books, six more to add to my list.
Author Amazon page: Dave Stanton
Product details
Publisher: LaSalle Davis Books (April 30 2014)
Language: English
Paperback: 289 pages
ISBN-10: 0989603113
ISBN-13: 978-0989603119
Blurb:
Jimmy Homestead’s glory days as a high school stud were a distant memory. His adulthood had amounted to little more than temporary jobs, petty crime, and discount whiskey.
But he always felt he was special, and winning a $43 million lottery proved it. With all that money, everything is great for Jimmy—until people from his past start coming out of the woodwork. First, his sexy stepmother, who seduced him as a teenager. Then his uncle, just released from Folsom after a five-year jolt for securities fraud, a crime that bankrupted Jimmy’s father. Mix in a broke ex-stripper and a down-on-his luck drug dealer, both seeking payback over transgressions Jimmy thought were long forgotten.
Caught in the middle are private detective Dan Reno and his good buddy Cody Gibbons, two guys just trying to make an honest paycheck. Reno, fighting to save his home from foreclosure, thinks that’s his biggest problem. But his priorities change when Gibbons and Jimmy are kidnapped by a gang of cartel thugs out for a big score. Fighting to save his friend’s life, Reno is drawn into a hard-boiled mess that leaves dead bodies scattered all over northern Nevada.
My Review: