“That wonderful and rare combination of high-speed suspense and complex, richly drawn characters will keep you on the edge of your seat.”–Jeffery Deaver, New York Timesbestselling author Her bloody finger left a translucent smear on the phone screen as she glanced through the list of private investigators in Vegas. Her stained nail came to rest on Sin City Investigations. Jim Bean would serve … Bean would serve her well.
Private investigator Jim Bean is a straightforward, to-the-point man. He likes his cases to follow suit. But when his latest client, Sophie Evers, asks him to find her brother Daniel, Jim has no idea how complicated his life is about to become.
As he falls deep into a manipulative game of cat and mouse, Jim uncovers the horrible truth about Sophie. Now he must set things right before her plan leads to the loss of innocent souls . . . even more than it already has.
Praise:
“19 Soulsis one terrific read. With a great plot, engaging characters, and a crackling voice, this book has everything. I dare you to put it down after you start reading.”–John Gilstrap, New York Timesbestselling author
“The setup is so good, and the characters so hard to look away from…All in all, a fine thriller.”–Booklist
“Twisty, authentic, and constantly surprising! JD Allen nails her debut with this top-notch thriller–it’s gritty, smart and irresistible.”–Hank Phillippi Ryan, nationally bestselling author
“Overall, a must read for thriller fans and perhaps the best PI story we have read this year so far.”–Mystery Tribune
“Her plotting and pacing will keep you up long after Proust and Henry James have rocked you to sleep. Stay tuned for a series that promises many, many more troubled dreams.”–Kirkus Reviews
“Bean’s inner and outer dialogue is quick, snappy, and authentic to the profession. The pace is earnest, as leads, tips, and information eventually congeal into answers; final pages are highly suspenseful and dramatic. 19 Soulsintroduces a memorable PI, grappling with a past he’s not reconciled to.”–Foreword Reviews
“This is an unflinchingly gritty tale, wonderfully written and wholly satisfying.”–Bolo Books
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Never a dull moment in America’s Sin City, which means Jim Bean—the Las Vega private investigator in this action-packed, thrills-a-minute series—is always busy. But like many lone wolf P.I.s, Bean’s financial wellbeing is not as robust as he would like it to be. The prospect of a missing person search for someone who’s been off the radar for several years would go a long way toward remedying that. And the woman who enlists Bean’s help in finding her missing brother knows she’s found the perfect man for the job.
Armed with the tools of his trade and the help of his bounty hunter and technology wizard bros, Bean makes good progress on the case. But as he makes headway, he gets the first hint that something sinister is at play here, and this straightforward case is anything but typical. Now he has two mysteries to solve, and neither one of them give him a very warm or cozy feeling. As the case begins to unravel, he realizes everything in his life is now at risk.
I won’t spoil the fun with specifics, but I can guarantee you this book will take you on one hell of a wild ride. It’s a terrific start to the series, and I look forward to reading more adventures of Jim Bean, P.I.!
Rather than recap the story, I recommend that you read this wonderful book. The perfect PI story for mystery lovers who love to be on the edge of their seats until the end of the story. Details and well-developed characters are cornerstones of this captivating story which uncovers secrets that were hoped to never be exposed, demons in the characters that didn’t stay buried as intended, action-packed with twists and turns and plenty of suspense which all keep you entertained; all this and set in Las Vegas. Take a chance on this, you won’t be sorry! Looking forward to the next book in the series.
It sounded to me like it was going to be a noir P.I. mystery in the beginning but after the first chapter it just went on like a regular mystery. This was an enjoyable read. I liked the characters and how the story developed. My only negative is this was published before and is not new. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book.
This is the first book that I read by J.D. Allen and it was a very good surprise. The plot has a lot of action, deceit, crime, a very sick mind and culprit, quite a few tortured souls – including that of the main character – PI Jim Bean. It also has strong friendships, compliance and defiance to rules and laws and good humour. I really enjoyed reading this book and I´m looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
I received a free copy of this book from the author´s publishing company and this is my honest review.
How far would you go to satisfy an adolescent crush? 19 Souls provides a harrowing tale that is built around one person’s adolescent obsession and how far they will go to achieve their goal. Along the way the reader meets Jim, a PI with personal flaws, but excellent investigative talents, a cop who sees the need for Jim’s talents and an FBI agent who may actually have a human side. This action-packed story kept me on the edge of my chair from start to finish and while I kept projecting what was coming next, J.D. Allen seemed to outwit me each time by making a right turn when I thought we were going left and vice versa. This is a series I’ll be reading as each new story is published. I received an Advance Reader Copy and chose to provide this review.
OBSESSIVE LOVE AND ITS TRAGIC RESULTS ARE VIVIDLY PORTRAYED IN THIS
SPELL-BINDING AND INTENSE NOVEL. A TWISTED AND TERRIFYING BOOK YOU
WON’T WANT TO MISS. RECOMMENDED
Loved it. Very well paced with a great antagonist. Heartily recommend it.
An entertaining read for a long, coast to coast flight. But… more than a little implausible on many levels.
WASTE OF TIME. EXTREMELY GRUESOME DESCRIPTIONS NOT NEEDED. THIS READER DID NOT CARE ABOUT CHARACTERS.
J.D. Allen’s 19 Souls is an entertaining modern-day mystery/suspense, with a strong flavor of noir. The reader knows who the devious villain is right from the beginning, but does not know if they will get away with their crimes until the bitter end. Noir is not an easy style to pull off. Here is an example of what you have to look forward to:
“The fact that weaponry hadn’t come naturally worked his nerves like a dull knife on a thick rope, slow and fraying.”
This story is told from the omniscient third person point of view, allowing the author to hop from the protagonist’s head and location to the villain’s head and location in the turn of a page. With only two POV characters, the head-hopping is done well, never leaving the reader confused.
J.D. Allen exhibits a remarkable ability to rack up the body count, while stopping short of the goriest details. Even with a corpse dropping every few chapters, readers never have to watch an autopsy. Skillful descriptions of settings, sounds, smells, and even tastes pull readers completely into the story.
Toward the end, the tale drifts in the direction of a possible romantic encounter without quite getting there, although since this is promised to be the first in a series, the budding attraction may appear again later.
I thoroughly enjoyed 19 Souls. I recommend this author to any mystery reader interested in a fresh new voice, an intriguing plot, and a story where the suspense never lets up.
This is a great debut, I can’t wait to see what’s coming next with this series.
19 souls by J D Allen started off as an exciting read. It is the first novel in the author’s new series Sin City Investigations, based in Las Vegas, Nevada about the life of Private Investigator Jim Bean. I was drawn into the suspense. Her main characters are Jim Bean and a beautiful, complicated client named Sophie Evers. She comes into Bean’s office asking for help to find her addict of a brother Dan, who supposedly stole money from their mom and has vanished off the face of the earth. When in fact, she has already killed his actual sister and she’s the obsessed foster girl from his past who will never let him go. (I’m not giving away the book, this happens within the first chapters.) I liked the way the author brought to life all of the characters. She gave us deep background on the main characters and even the sub-characters, but the story just needed a little more for me. I had a hard time getting through the book. I think the author has great potential, she has all the makings of a wonderful Suspense writer. Her characters were spot on, the storyline was there, the plot was good. But the pacing of the story was just off, it was hard to get through the book. I will still read part two of Sin City Investigations, because I am hoping that this is just a one off and I would really like to see what happens with the characters. I give this book 3.5 stars.
I received a free copy of this ARC from Netgalley for my honest review
19 Souls is a well-written and gripping start to a promising series. We’re introduced to PI, Jim Bean, a plain-spoken guy who does business out of diner. He’s somewhat rough around the edges and has a wit about him that is, at times, quite humorous. Jim takes on what he thinks is a straight-forward case and bites off a bit more than he wants to chew. The story is more thriller than mystery as we know who the antagonist is from the start. The suspense surrounds when Jim will figure out what Sophie is up to, who she will kill next, and how long it will take to stop her. I was pleasantly surprised with how well done Sophie’s character is. I am often disappointed in a female antagonist, but Sophie is the very picture of a psychopath. She’s completely obsessed with Dan and almost arrogantly sure of her actions as she manipulates, connives, and kills her way to having him. The little voice in her head was an added bonus that lends itself to just how far round the bend she’s gone.
The story did slow down a bit more than I cared for at times, but that aside, this first Sin City Investigation held my interest and kept me turning pages. It’s an impressive start to a new series and a solid introduction to the author. I’ll be interested to see what’s next.