A hard-boiled PI novel for fans of Raymond Chandler, Ross MacDonald, and Dashiell Hammett.Rick Cahill has long feared the truth about his own blood—the blood of his father coursing through his veins. When a long-hidden safe unlocks clues about why his father was kicked off the police force twenty-seven years ago and then spiraled into an early drunken death, Rick determines to find the truth even … find the truth even if it proves the one thing he’s always feared. But as he grapples with his father’s past, the woman he still loves pleads with him to find out if her husband is having an affair—or is involved in something much more sinister. Could the truth send her back into Rick’s arms? Would he have a last shot at happiness? He may never get the chance to find out, as killers who will do anything to protect their secrets lurk in the shadows.
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I love the Rick Cahill series, and this one definitely doesn’t disappoint. My first one to read in this series was WRONG LIGHT so it doesn’t even matter if you read it in any order. I feel like learning about Rick’s father and his ex really help you learn more about him as a person. Such a good book!
I listened to this as an audiobook and Travis Baldree is the perfect narrator!
Good Until The Last…Well, Only Until The Last Drop
The novel starts with Rick Cahill going back to his childhood home of 18 years ago. He is to pick up a wall safe that was found when the house was being demolished to make room for a new home to be built on the site. Upon returning home, he receives a call from his ex-girlfriend. After they broke up, she married the biggest realtor in La Jolla, CA. She believes that he may be cheating on her and wants Rick to find out if it is true. He teams up with Moira, a PI with whom he periodically works, to find out. Rick is able to photograph the husband and a very stunning woman on the balcony of a hotel. The two did spend enough side in the room for an afternoon delight. After the husband leaves, Peter Stone, an old nemesis of Rick, arrives with a briefcase and leaves shortly after arriving. This piques Rick interest, and he follows her. This main storyline develops quickly into an ever more complex storyline.
The second and concurrent main story develops from the wall safe that contains $15,000 dollars, a Saturday Night Special whose clip is two rounds short of being full, and a key to a safe deposit box. The gun and money may be related to a crime that occurred some 27 years ago that lead to his father being disgraced and fired from the La Jolla Police Department. Rick decides to investigate where the money and, especially, the key leads.
The novel quickly captured my interest and every time I stopped, it was with much reluctance. While the novel presented much complexity with the two intertwining storylines, I found reading the novel quite effortless and quite enjoyable.
The B-storyline compliments the main storylines quite well. There were two major B-storylines. The first is the relationship with his married ex-girlfriend, and the second is with his Moira. These storylines are rich and complex, and the author also shows how these relationships changed over the span of the novel.
There are not any graphic sex scenes. There are some f-bombs and lesser vulgar language. Most of the violence is described after the fact. The levels of all of these should not be an issue to the majority of readers. While this is the fourth novel in this Rick Cahill series, I did not sense any left unexplained because I had not read the previous three novels. You can read this novel as I did as the first novel of the series and enjoy it.
I had already decided to rate this novel with five stars when I started to read the last few chapters. The last unexplained threads were tied up in these chapters. Unfortunately, it reminded me of the car insurance TV commercial where the villain tells the hero his entire dastardly plan before killing him with a laser. That is what I thought as I read the end of this novel. Based upon this, I revised my rating to four stars. I still recommend reading this novel. I am glad that I did read it.
Very predestrian
Book 4 of the Rick Cahill series finds the hard-boiled PI coming to turn with his father’s truth. While this story is a deep look into his protagonist’s emotional depth, Coyle does not disappoint those readers wanting a tough, intriguing plot. In fact, Cahill’s father’s history comes back to bite Cahill—so he thinks, only to find that we are never far from those who brought us into the world. Not sure what that means? Read Blood Truth is driven to find out Rick Cahill’s “blood truth” no matter where it might take him.