MURDER IN THE HOLLOWS

Murder In the Hollows by Declan James
Book 1 in the Jake Cashen series
Narrated by Alexander Cendese
Genre: crime fiction
Format: ebook & audiobook

About Murder In the Hollows:

One small town’s dark secrets lay hidden in the hollows…

Rumors have swirled around Jake Cashen his whole life. Is he crazy like his father? Is it true they booted him out of the F.B.I. right after he cracked a career-making RICO case? Was he dirty?

Only Jake knows and he’s not telling.

He came back to his tiny hometown at the foot of Ohio’s Blackhand Hills to serve as a deputy sheriff. He hopes to punch a clock and keep his head down until retirement.

It was a solid plan. Until someone put a bullet in the head of a revered county judge.

Jake’s new boss knows Jake has a particular set of skills. The Sheriff pins a detective badge on him whether Jake likes it or not. He could have said no. But as Jake watches the locals nearly bungle the case in the first five minutes, he knows he’s all in.

As Jake digs into the murder, he soon learns Judge Rand had enemies in every corner. And someone hiding in plain sight may be plotting to bring his investigation to a deadly end.

To bring a cold-blooded killer to justice, Jake’s forced to confront every truth he’s tried to escape. Even the ones that could bury him.

Murder in the Hollows is the gripping first book in the Detective Jake Cashen thriller series. A former police detective, author Declan James brings you authentic crime fiction that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Perfect for fans of Connelly, Box, Dugoni and Baldacci.

Source: Info in the "About Murder In the Hollows" was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61520880-murder-in-the-hollows on 18/05/2023.

Buy Link(s):

 

My Thoughts:

Crime fiction is not really my genre. But I sampled the audiobook and I wanted to listen to more. So, kudos to Alexander Cendese for selling this book to me!

For me to like this book given that it is not my kind of read means that the story telling quality must be compelling enough for me to read it. That is not an easy thing to do! But Declan James managed it! So now, of course I gotta go and buy the next book in the series...

The story of this book and that of Message In The Bones is so similar that I sometimes got the story lines of the two books confused... I need to stop reading similar books!

Quantitative Evaluation:

Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4.5
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 4.5
Cover art = 4
Pace = (7 hrs and 45 mins listening time)
Plot = 4.5
Narration = 5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries

Books In The Jake Cashen Series:

 

Meet The Author

About Declan James:

Before putting pen to paper, Declan James’s career in law enforcement spanned twenty-six years. Declan’s work as a digital forensics detective has earned him the highest honors from the U.S. Secret Service and F.B.I. For the last sixteen years of his career, Declan served on a nationally recognized task force aimed at protecting children from online predators. Prior to that, Declan spent six years undercover working Vice-Narcotics.

An avid outdoorsman and conservationist, Declan enjoys hunting, fishing, grilling, smoking meats, and his quest for the perfect bottle of bourbon. He lives on a lake in Southern Michigan along with his wife and kids.

declanjamesbooks.com | facebook | amazon | goodreads

The Narrator

About Alexander Cendese:

Alexander Cendese is a New York–based actor and narrator. He has performed on Broadway (A View from the Bridge) and in regional theater, and has narrated numerous audiobooks. His television and film credits include the CW's Beauty and the Beast, Best Man in the Dark, and Catskill Park.

goodreads

FTC Disclosure:
The ebook and audiobook were bought with private funds.
No money received for this review.

SHIFTING SHADOWS

Shifting Shadows by Patricia Briggs
Narrated by Alexander Cendese and Lorelei King
Novellas in the Alpha & Omega and Mercy Thompson serieses
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook

About Shifting Shadows:

Mercy Thompson’s world just got a whole lot bigger…

A collection of all-new and previously published short stories featuring Mercy Thompson, “one of the best heroines in the urban fantasy genre today” (Fiction Vixen Book Reviews), and the characters she calls friends…

Includes the new stories…
“Silver”
“Roses in Winter”
“Redemption”
“Hollow”

…and reader favorites
“Fairy Gifts”
“Gray”
“Alpha and Omega”
“Seeing Eye”
“The Star of David”
“In Red, with Pearls”

Source: Info in the About Shifting Shadows was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20821263-shifting-shadows on 07/02/2018.

My Thoughts:

I believe that these collection of short stories or novellas in the world of Mercy Thompson would have been better read chronologically within the series' timeline. As it is, I read them in one bulk as given here in this anthology after I've read the books that has been published already thus far. And a few of those books were read, like, donkey's years ago, that I have forgotten the events in those stories already. This kind of diminished my enjoyment of the little stories here, however, I would still read them even though it is no longer according to chronological order because they are good reads. And I am a die-hard Mercy Thompson fan. Little bits of morsel to savour. Most of these little stories are like little snippets with in which the ending and the start was in the books in the series, therefore, if you haven't read the books, it would not make a lot of sense and I presume that it would just be more frustrating than an enjoyable read. So caution to those who are not followers of this urban fantasy world. This anthology book is so not a good place to start reading about the Mercy Thompson world or the Alpha & Omega series.

Plot... some of the short stories does not have much of a plot because it is just a little slice of the bigger story in whatever book in which the short story fits into the Mercy Thompson timeline. So, in so many ways, the plot rating does not apply to this anthology. However, even though the stories here are just short and/or snippets, the wonderful story telling quality that is the trademark of this author still shines through, that is why this book remains a good read despite all my whining about it.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 4
Story itself = (N/A)
Writing Style = 4
Ending = (N/A)
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = (14 hours & 52 minutes)
Plot = (N/A)
Narration = 3.5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries


  Books In The Mercy Thompson Series:
Click on the cover image to go to my review or to the GoodReads page of the book for more info.

                     

  Books In The Alpha & Omega Series:

             

About Patricia Briggs
	Patricia Briggs was born in Butte, Montana to a children’s librarian who passed on to her kids a love of reading and books. Patricia grew up reading fairy tales and books about horses, and later developed an interest in folklore and history. When she decided to write a book of her own, a fantasy book seemed a natural choice. Patricia graduated from Montana State University with degrees in history and German and she worked for a while as a substitute teacher. Currently, she lives in Montana with her husband, children and six horses and writes full-time, much to the delight of her fans.
www.patriciabriggs.com | facebook | twitter | goodreads | Amazon

FTC Disclosure:
This book, in all it's purchased formats, was bought with private funds.
No money received for this review.