“A mystery, a damn good one.” – David Bridger, UK, author of A Flight of Thieves
“I really like this story and look forward to reading more of the series.” – Samantha Ashpaugh, US
“I liked this better than the Stephanie Plum books.” – A. Karl, US
The once-beautiful domed neo-Victorian city of Bridges is split between four crime families in an uneasy cease-fire. Social disparity increasing and … Social disparity increasing and its steam-driven infrastructure failing, a new faction is on the rise: the Red Dogs.
Jacqueline Spadros has a dream life: a wealthy husband, a powerful family. But her life is not what it seems. Kidnapped from her mother’s brothel and forced to marry, the murder of her best friend Air ten years before haunts her nightmares. She finds moments of freedom in a small-time private eye business, which she hides in fear of her sadistic father-in-law.
Air’s little brother disappears off his back porch and the Red Dogs are framed for it. With the help of a mysterious gentleman investigator hired by the Red Dogs to learn the truth, Jacqui pushes her abilities to their limits in hope of rescuing the child before the kidnapper disposes of him.
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For rich pageantry and a complex culture navigated by a character who feels she’s balanced on the edge between the slums of the Pot and the extravagance of the families, The Jacq of Spades is a hands-down success.
My first read from author Patricia Loofbourrow. An enjoyable, well-written book with memorable characters. Great read, I’ll be reading more from this author.
Great detective work. Characters works well with each other that it magnifies the lead character. I didn’t mind the flashbacks because it made me understand the back story of the characters better. The story flowed so well like being there trying to solve it myself than I reached the end, ugh!
Audio Review:
The Jaques Of Spades ( The Red Dog Conspiracy #1)
This book is about a female private eye named Jacquiline Spades who is married to a man in one of the four crime families in this city named Bridges in the post-apocalyptic reminiscent of a Victorian Era city. She goes in search of a missing child. A steampunk fiction/ Noir Crime with a storyline that is amazing as there are a lot of twist and turns I was hooked right from the first chapter. If you like mystery, mobsters, corrupt police and a novice private eye you will love this very well written book Looking forward to listening to the next book in this series. Highly recommend listening to this series.
I listened on Authors Direct which has issues directly related to the app not the performance or story.
Narator Machelle Williams is a highly talented narator. Her inflection was smooth and on point. I felt she portrayed the role of Jacqueline Spades perfectly. Her intonation was exactly what I would picture as Jacqueline’s character. I felt like I was right there listening to everything occurring.
I highly recommend listening to this audio.
This is a superb book that will keep you held in place from beginning to end.
The story line is good and well written characters support it throughout. The geography of this distopian world is so well laid out it is almost as if we are navigating the area we live in and we can identify places within our own everyday life that could be the inspiration. This helps to give a story we can identify with and it slots the reader right into the thick of the action. While there is no cliff hanger as such there are enough threads that lead into the next book that we are left champing at the bit for more!
I definitely recommend this book to everyone.
Great characterizations in an interesting and unusual society.
This book was a hard one to put down when I needed to—-something was always happening and I wanted to see what was next.
The difference in the different class levels was interesting.
There are some things that I figured out and a few that surprised me.
Set in a distant post-apocalyptic future, The Jacq of Spades is a steampunk mystery, with the promise of zeppelin travel, different drug-lord families that control city quadrants, and 22-year-old Jacqueline Spadros, raised in a brothel in the slums, but chosen to be the wife of a drug-lord heir. Jacqui’s secret life is as a private investigator, which her new family can never know about. Her latest case is a missing child, the younger brother of a boy she grew up with in the slums.
The book spends a bit of time world-building, which was a bit slow (I had read a prequel to this story, which is the leadoff novella in Death and Damages), so I knew much of the world already), but once it started propelling itself forward, it was hard to put the book down.
Jacqui is a rich, complex character who never completely forgets her roots, and her dealings with the other families—and her ability to sneak about successfully—lead to many edge-of-your-seat scenes. Her digging leads her to uncover other dark, sinister secrets of both other families and her own. And while many of the mysteries are unanswered—that’s why this book is the first of a series—the central question of the book is resolved in what I think is a satisfying way. That’s not always the case for book series, and I was happy to see the resolution.
Many of the characters are well-rounded too, from the husband and heir who Jacqui doesn’t really love, to Jacqui’s maid, to the twins from another quadrant who befriend Jacqui. Jacqui’s father-in-law is a cruel, heartless man, but Loofbourrow shows some interesting sides to him that save him from being the mustache-twirling villain he could be.
An intriguing and dangerous read!
This book was absolutely interesting, oh man, I really enjoyed this fast-paced conspiracy story. A novel about a fierce, independent woman in a man’s world filled with secrets, allure, mystery, danger and conspiracies.
A world run by the Families, where everything appears glamorous while everything under the surface is dangerous and illegal.
I cannot wait to read the next book. Everyone should definitely give this book a try! It’s worth it!
Perfect for readers of steampunk suspense novels.
Audiobook
Loved listening to the narrator – sounded just like the main character I had imagined while reading the book. The narrator kept me interested in the storyline from beginning to end.
This is my first foray into the steampunk genre and Patricia Loofburrow has made me a fan for life! There was so much to love about this story that it makes it difficult for me to get my thoughts in order. The characters are fantastic! The mystery is intriguing and kept me very interested. I even loved the fact that the it wasn’t tied up with a bow at the end. I’m not usually a fan of serials, but for some reason this one worked for me. Maybe it’s because I know there are already more books in the series so I won’t be waiting to read the next one. I loved it!
I was provided this book for free. I am voluntarily posting this review and all opinions expressed herein are my own.
Besides the above disclaimer – I also did not finish this book. I was really excited by the premise but I found the book confusing, boring, and poorly executed. You are tossed into scenes with no preamble – meet scores of people all at once, get backstory in pieces and literally nothing happens. I also did not really like Jacq — I found her to be a bit whiny. I was tired of hearing how she was not worthy of being in her position due to her background. She would ask her husband why he married her and he would reply that he loved her to which she has an inner monologue that on the surface this seems like the right answer but she was not worthy due to her background and his standing. There is clearly an audience for this book, given the positive reviews but unfortunately, that audience is not me.
The narrator, Machelle Williams, did a good job.
This is a title I’d been interested in reading for quite some time. But life just kept getting in the way, preventing me from reading it. Maybe I should have taken that as a sign. I’m not a quitter. I hate giving up on a story before I’ve reached the end. This book really tested my resolve. I finished it, and yet I still have no idea what I just read. It didn’t help that nothing felt finished at the end of this book, everything is still up in the air. I realize it’s part of a series, but I’d still like to see some part of the plot wrapped up by the end. The premise is fascinating. I just wasn’t able to connect with any of the characters or events. Maybe it’s because I’d read some very emotional books before reading this one. Maybe I was a little burned out by the time I got to this story. I wasn’t captivated the way I wanted to be.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through BookSirens.