The characters: Herb Benedict, a detective who could never stop eating. Harry McGlade: dresses in clothes that have nothing but stains on them.
And of course, Lieutenant Jack Daniels. There was a lot of dialogue that made me laugh throughout the story. In one scene, when Jack - short for Jacqueline - Daniels asked a man how he found a dead body, he said he was looking for a Mounds bar because he thought he won a contest.
There were many other lines like that one. I think it takes a special talent to blend humor and suspense. It reminds me of one of my favorite authors, Harlan Coben, although Janet Evanovich comes to mind as well.
In any case, the plot of the book was Jack Daniels tracking down a serial killer named The Gingerbread Man. He leaves a gingerbread cookie with the body after he kills someone. Things like that seem corny to me but I’ll go with it.
The plot and the tension grows with The Gingerbread Man trying to kidnap Jack Daniels like he did with his other victims. Much of the suspense builds further on this as it seems like it will be impossible to identify who the Gingerbread man is.
What bothered me about the book was that as it went further, the author painted a disturbing portrait of the serial killer. To an extent, I understand why he would do that but I didn’t think it was necessary. I think that actions speak louder than words and I thought the serial killer was chilling but going into his life only made me cringe.
There are a lot of serial killer books in the fiction market today. I think the really good ones like Elizabeth George’s With No One As Witness let the actions speak. She didn’t go into his background at any time in the story even though she wrote from his point of view as well.
As a result, there were times in the book that this slowed me down. The pace of the book was exciting, especially with the constant battle between Jack Daniels and the Gingerbread Man. You couldn’t help but root for Jacqueline because the serial killer was evil.
In any case, the showdown was exciting and unpredictable, making the ending a great one.
My feeling is that based on this, I would give this book 4 stars and will continue to read the rest of this series.
Ron Hummer
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