Juvenile writing. Read about 10%. Not worth my time. ( )

A fun, quick mystery with enough intrigue to keep just about any reader engaged. Plot twists were kept to a minimum, especially twists that are unlikely like many novelists use. No sex scenes, so if you’re looking for a good mystery to recommend to your grandmother, this would be it. Characters are believable and interesting. Situations are believable, at least until the end, when Zunker sort of jumps the shark. But that’s ok. It doesn’t ruin the book, and in today’s literary world, those kinds of things are par for the course and almost required to make sure a book sells. ( )

This could also have been called.....The Lives of Joe...except that might be a spoiler alert! In a novel, anything can happen and truly, the abilities and events that happened by and to Alex in the space of one incredible week...."almost" beyond belief....but....definitely works for this book. Alex's over-the-top life style which he keeps describing are....a little hard to appreciate? Put up with? Even Joe and Carol's adoration of their daughter, AND Alex, as well as their two granddaughters....fine....this is what novels are all about and this truly becomes a page turner! Zunker is a new author for me and now I can go and find his earlier books...always a good surprise with an author who is new for me. ( )

This book starts with a punch when Alex Mahan's father-in-law, Joe, is kidnapped in Mexico. Then, the book slows down considerably while Alex begins his investigation into Joe's life, naively putting himself and several others in danger. The text is also swamped with Alex's fond memories of Joe interacting with his wife and kids. It's necessary to the story, but the author should know the reader will get it without being reminded repeatedly. In the last chapters, the action picks up, and some plot twists pull me back in. The end made the book worth reading. ( )

Joe and Carol Dobson have one daughter, Taylor, married to Alex Mahan with two young children. While volunteering in a small town near Matamoros, Mexico with his wife and daughter's family, Joe is kidnapped and killed. Two years prior to this trip, Joe had invested five million dollars in Alex's start-up technology business. Alex tries to find out where the money came from since he sees no evidence of it in Joe and Carol's finances. The more he looks, the more dangerous it becomes. There were some hard-to-believe coincidences in this book as Alex investigates. ( )