by: Eric Jerome Dickey
published: April 17, 2018
genre: Crime, Romance
381 Pages, E-Book
GoodReads Link
Synopsis
As a low-level enforcer in Los Angeles, Ken Swift knows danger, but nowhere does he feel it more than in his tangled romances. Divorced from one woman, in love with another, and wrestling with a strong desire to get to know a third, his life is far from perfect, and it becomes all the more complicated when his troubled daughter resurfaces on the same day as a major job. Margaux is pregnant, bitter, and she needs $50,000 immediately, and she isn’t above blackmailing Ken to get it. Yet even as the tension-filled father/daughter reunion escalates into a clashing of wills and desires that spread far beyond their family, Ken’s latest contract spirals quickly out of control, and he finds it is not only his daughter looking to seek revenge. With the strong characters, heart-pounding action, and intense passion he is known for, New York Times bestseller Eric Jerome Dickey lays bare a tale of lust and angst that will leave readers breathless.
My Final Thoughts
I had to throw in the towel on this book – stopped dead in my tracks right at the beginning of chapter 19, precisely on page 200, clocking in at 55% completion.
Now, I’m a sucker for thrillers and mysteries, but this read felt like trying to navigate a maze blindfolded. The story had promise – Ken Swift navigating his rocky relationship with his daughter, the mysterious Florida incident, and the shadowy figure Balthazar Walkowiak. The intrigue was there, but the dialogue was a wild horse I couldn’t rein in. Case in point: Swift’s daughter, Margaux, dropping lines like, “Dafuq you look at, fugly dark-skinned black-ass bish?” I get the attempt at authenticity, but seriously, no twenty-something in 2017/18 talks like that.
Then there’s the dialogue overdose. Too many monologues that felt like detours from the main story. Swift and his buddy, Jake Ellis (and yeah, every time “Jake Ellis” was dropped, it grated on me), break into a house to collect a debt, and suddenly Jake goes on a history lecture about Africa, slavery, and colonialism. Eye roll, right? To top it off, the debtor goes on a verbal spree, dropping the N-bomb 110 times, hard -ER included. It was just too much.
This book and I didn’t click. I couldn’t figure out what Dickey was aiming for. He waxed poetic about the beauty of Africa, and I found myself wondering if I missed the target audience memo. Unfinished questions about Margaux’s financial needs, the impact of the Florida incident on Ken Swift, and the aftermath of the ex-wife’s return left me hanging. My reading adventure came to a screeching halt when Swift’s girlfriend turned his floor into a disaster zone during a birthday bender – couldn’t stomach that scene any longer. Approach with caution, and if racial slurs make you cringe, maybe give this one a hard pass.
whitneydaniell 