Book Review: Bloody Mary by J.A. Konrath

Bloody Mary

By: J.A. Konrath

Pub. Date: July 2005

Publisher: Hyperion

Format: Hardcover , 320pp

Series: Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels Series #2

ISBN-13: 9781401300890

ISBN: 1401300898

Source: Library

Synopsis:

Start with a tough but vulnerable Chicago cop. Stir in a psychopath with a unique mental condition that programs him to kill. Add 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. Mix with equal parts humor and suspense, and enjoy Bloody Mary.
When Jack receives a report of an excess of body parts appearing at the Cook County Morgue, she hopes it’s only a miscount. It’s not. Even worse, these extra limbs seem to be accessorized with Jack’s handcuffs.
Someone has plans for Jack. Very bad plans. Plans that involve everything and everyone that she cares about.
Jack must put her train wreck of a personal life on hold to catch an elusive, brilliant maniac - a maniac for whom getting caught is only the beginning…

My Review:

I had a hard time finishing this book... although I did finish it in a day.

I love the Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series because it's a little mystery with a lot of humor and great characters. While I realized right from the first book in the Jack Daniels series that this series was a lot darker than the Plum series, I still thought that I would enjoy it because of the potential in the secondary characters. However, even though I still like the secondary characters, like Herb, Jack's partner, Harry McGlade, Jack's former partner, and Jack's mom, I can't handle the villians.

Konrath's villians are much more twisted and gruesome than Evanovich's. In Bloody Mary, a serial killer is out hacking up women; he's also a cop that is close to Jack. I'm not sure how much of a mystery the suspect was suppose to be but I knew immediately who the killer was. The more interesting part was the second half of the book, after Jack had caught the guy and he was on trial. The murderer is a seriously horrible and twisted individual. He puts on a good show at the trial and is actually set free.

I liked the overall plot of Bloody Mary and the funny characters (listed above) but I can't handle the books if they're all about a serial killer who tortures women. I read the prologue to the third in the series, Rusty Nail, and it's clear that the next villain is also a serial killer, although I don't know who his target is... but I'd have to guess that it's women. I don't think I will be continuing this series. I recommend this series for someone who wants something darker than the Plum series. In my opinion, the first book started out the series well but I don't think the mystery was as good in the second book and the villains all seem to be the exact same type- sociopaths who displayed symptoms of it in childhood but never got caught until they showed up in Chicago and became involved with Jack Daniels.

My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Book Review: Whiskey Sour by J.A. Konrath

 

Whiskey Sour

By: J.A. Konrath

Pub. Date: June 2004

Publisher: Hyperion

Format: Hardcover , 284pp  

Series: Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels Series #1   

ISBN-13: 9781401300876

ISBN: 1401300871

Source: library

Synopsis:

Lieutenant Jacqueline 'Jack' Daniels is having a bad week. Her live-in boyfriend has left her for his personal trainer, chronic insomnia has caused her to max out her credit cards with late-night home shopping purchases, and a frightening killer who calls himself 'The Gingerbread Man' is dumping mutilated bodies in her district. Between avoiding the FBI and its moronic profiling computer, joining a dating service, mixing it up with street thugs, and parrying the advances of an uncouth PI, Jack and her binge-eating partner, Herb, must catch the maniac before he kills again...and Jack is next on his murder list. Whiskey Sour is full of laugh-out-loud humor and edge-of-your-seat suspense, and it introduces a fun, fully drawn heroine in the grand tradition of Kinsey Millhone, Stephanie Plum, and Kay Scarpetta.

My Review:

One day I was talking to a friend about Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series and my friend recommended the Jack Daniels series by Konrath. Because I want to talk to my friends about books, I rushed online and requested a copy from my library right away to give the series a try. While not as light and humorous as the Plum series, I really enjoyed this first book in the Jack Daniels series.

Jacqueline (Jack) Daniels is a cop who has dedicated her life to her work, to the ruin of her personal life. She wants justice to be served and the world to be right. Her life gets even more difficult when a serial killer shows up and with a plan to go after Jack.

The point of view switches between Jack and the Gingerbread Man (the murderer). The characters that Jack surrounds herself by are interesting and funny. My two favorite were Herb, her partner, and Phineas Troutt, an ex-convict who she meets in a bar to play pool.  While not as laugh-out-loud funny as the Stephanie Plum series, I was often amused by these secondary characters. While in the Gingerbread Man's head, though, nothing was funny. He was a very creepy and disturbing character. He reminded me a lot of Dr. H.H. Holmes from The Devil in the White City, which I had just finished reading before starting this book. They are both sociopaths, although Holmes was a real man whereas the Gingerbread Man is, thankfully, a work of fiction.

My favorite quote: "No one likes an asshole, Jack, until you have to move your bowels" page 101

I've requested the next several books in this series from the library and I look forward to learning more about Jack and her friends.

My Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5