Two reviews of my Jake Longly comedic thriller series
UNBALANCED (#7): BookTrib
We now interrupt this coverage of dark thrillers for a tale with a much lighter touch. D.P. Lyle’s lovable ex-baseball player turned beach bar and grill owner Jake Longly is back in Unbalanced.
Jake just wants to soak up the sun and surf on Alabama’s Gulf Shores. He’s got a girlfriend he loves and an ex-wife he can’t get rid of. Nor, it seems, can he get rid of his private detective father, who drags him into yet another murder investigation. In a style and fashion worthy of Carl Hiaasen, Jake ends up involved with unscrupulous real estate developers (are there any other kind?), duplicitous government officials, and the general rogue’s gallery of miscreants typical of this outstanding series that’s now seven books in.
As always, Lyle’s staccato prose and whip-smart dialogue crackles with humor. Unbalanced is like junk food for the brain: as soon as you finish it, you want more. A book can’t be more fun to read than this.
Review by Jon Land
A-LIST (#2): BookAnon
Great Laid Back Gulf Coast Mystery In The Big Easy. This particular mystery manages to capture the aura and allure of both Hollywood and New Orleans (and my AI voices I use for the Audio book reviews I post to YouTube aren’t going to be able to pick up the Southern, much less local, pronunciation of that town’s name). You’ve got the glitzy high priced hotels and the down in the weed drug dealers. You’ve got Cafe Du Monde and a bayou full of gators. You’ve got the real world pressures of being on set on a movie and trying to stay within budget… and a lead actor who likes to sleep around with the locals.
And then you’ve got Jake Longly, his girlfriend Nicole, his dad Ray, and his best friend Pancake. Yet again doing what they do, and yet again using each of their talents to help solve the mystery – and resolve the resultant fight scene. Jake being the former MLB pitcher who knows his way around a bat, Nicole learning her way in a fight, Ray being the former SpecOps-adjacent soldier, and Pancake being a beefy guy that could likely hold his own with Jack None Reacher, should the crew ever come across him.
This particular entry in the series is absolutely more New Orleans focused than general Gulf Coast / Floribama vibe that the other books in this series generally have, and yet it absolutely works for the story told here.
Very much recommended.
Check out the entire series:
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