Detective Reed Mattox, just three months removed from the death of his partner, has turned invisibility into an art form.
Switching to the K-9, taking over the graveyard shift, moving to a farmhouse miles outside of Columbus, his every move has become predicated on putting as much distance between himself and the outside world as possible.
That distance is shattered though when bodies begin … shattered though when bodies begin turning up in The Bottoms, the poverty-stricken section of town he is assigned to patrol. Grisly, horrific scenes start to pop up in the middle of the night and the overburdened precinct has no choice but to put Reed on it.
Now operating far outside of his comfort zone with a Belgian Malinois for a partner that attracts attention wherever they go, Reed is forced to unravel the murders, taking him clear across the city and back years in time, to an event that some very influential people will do anything to keep buried…
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A very good storyteller!
I was not able to finish the story. No single detective is going to work a homicide. No non-uniformed officer is going to run a working dog. One does not let a working dog run off and conduct its search–I’ve seen working dogs in Iraq, at fire scenes, looking for murder suspects, looking for drugs–it is ridiculous. No soldier or police officer is afraid of, or nervous around, a working dog.
I haven’t bothered to check Ohio’s 10-codes, but I’m guessing “187” is not their code for unattended death. I believe it is the California Penal Code for homicide.
Maybe the story winds up being a good one, but, due to my training and experience, I am not able to stomach the ridiculousness of the “law enforcement” elements of the story.
Good write kept me etertained
I loved the characters including the dog partner. I enjoyed reading about the steps taken and the missteps. I enjoy reading mysteries. This one really held my attention.
Okay procedural. The mystery was unusual, the relationship between man and dog-partner was beginning to gel, although the frequency with which he left that dog locked in the car bothered me. It would have been better to have gotten his backstory out of the way earlier. Some poor grammar or proofreading would stop the flow of words until i could decipher what he meant. The story is worth a read if gore doesn’t bother you.
great read for summer
Truly a mystery. I am now reading another novel by Dustin Stevens.
I enjoyed this book so much that I bought book 2 in the series.
Very good I think this would make a great movie
Loved it
A great book. Great characters. A really scary ending.
Good police procedural
In this case, man’s only friend is a dog as the protagonist has removed himself through misplaced guilt over his partner’s death, which doesn’t make much sense except as a device to set the story. The story is well-told, the main character, although flawed, is likeable and his K-9 partner is only a well-trained dog, not something given human traits and abilities.
Great and interesting read! Well written and I especially loved the main character being partnered with a Malinois.
Liked this so well I read all the rest of the author’s series. Great characters, a bit thriller/creepy.
Good read, needs a little editing. I liked this book. The story was interesting and it moved along at a decent pace. As other reviewers have noted, there are sometimes some quirks in the sentence structure that this author uses, especially in the first half of the book. He began a thought, then inserted a dependent clause that totally derails the thought, and then came back to his first thought at the end of the sentence. I found I had to read a few sentences a couple of times to figure out the point he was making. I think a good editor could make it a much smoother read. It was less of a problem in the second half of the book. The story is a police procedural headed by a detective who is recovering emotionally from the loss of his former partner. His new partner is a gorgeous police dog and they are tasked with solving a series of brutal ritualistic killings in a seedy part of town. I liked the lead character and the dog, although I wished the dog wasn’t left in the car so often. The reader was along for the ride as the detective sorted out the puzzle and happily there was no “information dump” at the end (which I hate). The author could have cut down on some of the wordy descriptions of buildings and the surroundings that were inessential to the story, but overall this was a good read that held my interest.
Well plotted and pace was terrific.
Very well written, good character development. My only problem was justifying the level of attrocities carried out on the victims with the crimes the Boat Man was avenging.
Love the K9 team
Read two chapters. He NEVER got to the point. I have no idea what is going on. As an English teacher, I taught my students to grab and involve the readers. Boy, this book sure fails.
Couldn’t put the book down. Kept reader in suspense of the motive until just the right point. Love the K-9 action, nice change from typical police partners. Great read.