WHISKEY SOUR by J.A. Konrath

This book was recommended to me (waves at Carrie) while I was doing my agent search. It IS sort of similar to FI, so I thought it might be an interesting read -- to see if FI might be something his agent would want to handle. HEH. Of course, I'm getting to it long after it will do any good. LOL.


WHISKEY SOUR by J.A. Konrath
Mystery


Brief Synopsis: Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels is your typical hard-boiled police lieutenant. Her boyfriend has left her because she's never around, she suffers from an on-going case of insomnia, and her social life consists of playing pool with a guy she once busted. To put it mildly, she is her job. And with a name like that, of course she enjoys her liquor.

When a serial killer calling himself the Gingerbread Man begins killing young females and dumping their bodies in various trashcans around the city of Chicago, Jack is put on the case only to discover that the guy has his sights set on her.
Mayhem ensues.

Okay, I went in thinking this would be along the lines of Evanovich and/or FI. And it was to some extent. Overall, though, I must say I found the humor a bit lacking because I couldn't disconnect my working knowledge of the criminal justice system from the way it was presented in this book. To put it more succinctly, the author tried to put humor in the oddest situations.

My biggest gripe would be the way the FBI were portrayed. LOL. Although funny, it just wasn't believable due to how far the author pushed it. The two agents in this book were portrayed as your basic Dumb and Dumber who put too much stock in the Vicap computer. Their profiles of the Gingerbread Man were _ridiculous_, but not nearly as ridiculous as their complete faith in them. There was one point they were both convinced TGM was a horse lover and wanted to stakeout animals of the four-legged variety, believing that would lead them straight to him. I mean, COME ON.

Coupled with other weak characterizations, this book was a bit superficial. All I know about her partner is that he likes to eat -- All I know about _Jack_ is that she's seriously depressed and burned out. She's humorous, yes, but with a grittier, wry humor that has a tinge of sadness beneath it all. I know they're in Chicago, but I never got a good feel for the setting...

The mystery with the Gingerbread man was _okay_.

All in all -- I'd say this book was enjoyable, though a bit predictable and shallow. I'll likely read the sequels, but I doubt I'll rush out to buy them anytime soon.

Buy or Rent? Eh, either -- I gave the book a 3/5, so it's your choice.