This is another gripping murder mystery with Henry Parker as the main character. Parker is a New York newspaper reporter and his boss wants him to WRITE stories, not be IN them!
The author says in a preface that parts of the story are true, and after reading it I went looking on the internet for clues as to what might be real. It's pretty amazing how much of an American Old West legend the book is built on, but Jason Pinter doesn't give away which is real and which is his part.
There is one detail in the book that I found annoying, and it kept coming up over and over. The NYPD determine that the killer is using an unusual rifle caliber, a cartridge that almost no rifleman would use today for long-range accuracy, the .44-40. It is a big, slow bullet (.427 inch diameter), but in the story they keep calling it a "magnum". It was a powerful cartridge by 1880 standards but considered pretty mild today (certainly not a "magnum"), and "magnum" ammunition wasn't invented until this century. This is a pretty basic thing that almost anyone with an interest in firearms would know. It didn't detract from the suspense or excitement of the story, though, because the type of cartridge leads to the kind of rifle, and THAT is a key to the plot!
The ending is really a surprise and leaves lots of possibilities open for the next book (coming out this summer).
AKA Glenn
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my lovely wife Merri AKA Paisley
I am looking forward to
I am looking forward to reading this one!
AKA Merri
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my dh Glenn AKA Phaedrus
Great review!
I'm still not sure if I'll read this one. I enjoyed the last one but not like everyone else did....
The D2K Paranormal Junkies 2008 Challenge
re: The Guilty
I got this one in my Mira shipment. I haven't read a Jason Pinter book before, so I'm looking forward to it from all the good reviews of the last one...didn't realize it was a series, though, is it fine to read by itself or should I try to read The Mark first?
Series
I don't think you need to read them in order. The characters that carry over from the first are very well developed in the second book. But Jason Pinter's writing style is so good you'll probably want to read The Mark after you read The Guilty!
AKA Glenn
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my lovely wife Merri AKA Paisley
I started the
I started the first one last year and just didn't get far enough along to get interested. I need to give it another go this year. It would fit in this month's challenge gotta get busy. Thanks for the review. I wouldn't know enough about the bullets for it to bother me as I know little about different guns other than some are big and some are little.
The D2K Paranormal Junkies ~ 2008 Book Challenge Blog
I gave in...
and bought this second book. I think this will be my make-it-or-break-it book with the series. Deb, I can understand your reaction.... I think it has a lot to do with some of the books you and I read as we are used to a different type of book maybe?
The D2K Paranormal Junkies 2008 Challenge
re: The Guilty
Thanks Phaedrus! Glad to hear it because The Guilty is staring at me and wants me to read it so badly...I'll go ahead and read this one first, then...and if I like it I have no doubt I'll go back to order The Mark!
Book#1 was a very different
Book#1 was a very different read from what i'm used to, but i enjoyed it...and look forward to reading book#2 one day.
Kathy D
I really enjoyed The Mark by
I really enjoyed The Mark by this author. It kind of made me think of Anne Stuart and even Olivia Gates in a sense just because those are two books that I had to just sit and read and get to the end without wanting any distractions. Kathy, that's interesting about it not being a typical kind of read. I used to read lots of books similar to this years ago on my school vacations as pleasure reading but not quite like this one in terms of details. I too, however, have enjoyed many books from this Challenge that were not my typical reads before the Challenge, perhaps HR and MR lines being the biggest pleasant surprises. I will be curious to read the second book by Jason Pinter.
AKA Merri
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my dh Glenn AKA Phaedrus
Merri, My reading world has
Merri, My reading world has definately grown "alot" and become much more exciting since joining eH years ago. I'm trying to remember what lines i was reading when i joined...HR & HP, and HH's...i'm not sure what else from here at that time...and of course lots of outside publishers for historicals....then i later got hooked on many other lines here, and still am. Lots of fun.
Kathy D