I enjoyed Jessie’s Tucker’s first outing, The Silent Victim, so I was very much looking forward to her next “story.” What I got was a mixed bag, but part of that is due to my particular background knowledge.
I still like the fact that Jessie is a reporter. It adds a different angle to the crime investigation she undertakes, which makes it more interesting at times. It certainly cuts down on a lot of police procedure descriptions that, while informative, can sometimes bog down a story.
With Jessie being a reporter, we also get treated to a unique set of characters. Her co-workers at the Tribune are quirky individuals; They are definitely a different breed. I liked the interplay between Jessie and her co-workers, especially some of the stories they told.
Jessie herself did not speak to me as much as she did in the first book. I actually thought she was a bit of a mess (but maybe that was by design). She mentioned her past quite a few times, which got repetitive, and her character seemed uneven. There was one exchange with a police officer that seemed totally out of character – almost like the scene was supposed to be someone else, and Jessie was thrown in, but the dialogue wasn’t changed. It was strange.
I’m not sure how I feel about her search for answers to her past amid everything else, so I will reserve judgment on that until the next book to see how it all pans out.
I also thought that while the author did a great job of weaving the plot threads together into a captivating story, the resolution was way too rushed. After all of the build-up and the clues that Jessie had uncovered, a lot was just exposition. The entire book wrapped up over the last 8-10%, instead of being plotted as part of the story. I think the revelations would have been more impactful. As it was, just about all of the big reveals felt contrived and caricature-ish.
Also, and this is just a totally personal thing for me, I thought the author missed the mark on the NYPD. The codes were wrong, some police procedures were inaccurate, and other stuff was just outright offensive (again TOTALLY personal perspective here). NYPD is unlike any other police force, with its own jargon, codes, and way of doing things that are uniquely New York.
If using the NYPD, there should have been more considerable attention to detail. Given the importance of one plot point, for example, it was jarring that OCCB and RICO were not even mentioned. Those should have been obvious references. And I’m not even going to get started on undercover work. It all could have worked better in a different or fictional department.
BUT, and I can’t stress this enough, anyone without ties to NYPD will probably have no problem with the things I mentioned above. It was still a decent story, Jessie is a protagonist worth rooting for, and is as intrepid as ever. I do look forward to her next investigation.
Author bio:
Dana Perry is a New York City author who writes mystery thrillers featuring newspaper reporter Jessie Tucker. Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanaPerryAuthor
