Happy Reading

Toni's bookshelf: read

The Godfather of Kathmandu (Sonchai Jitpleecheep, #4)
Ape House
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
Operation Napoleon
Walking Dead
The Sentimentalists
The Heretic Queen
The Midnight House
Cross Fire
Peony in Love
Absurdistan
Nefertiti
Finding Nouf: A Novel
City of Veils: A Novel
First Daughter
A Place of Hiding
Amagansett
Peter Pan


Toni Osborne's favorite books »
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Sunday, March 8, 2015

"Paydown", by Nick Stephenson

Book #0.5 in the Leopold Blake Series

There is nothing better than to tease new readers and reward your long-time fans by offering them a freebie. This series have been going on for some time now and writing a novella, the classic style prequel to introduce your next installment is the rage of many authors these days. Nothing wrong with this “Paydown” is a good introduction to Leopold Blake and an excellent mean to get hooked.

In a direct style, this fast-paced and plot driven story is your standard crime thriller and very easy to follow. Leopold is an expert criminologist who teams up with NYPD Detective Mary Jordan in his first fraud and murder case of a high-flying Wall Street investment banker just has the financial world is at the brink of collapse.

The story with a bit of humour moves fluently, no lingo language to make things difficult. The characterization is not original, quite déjà vu in fact, what comes to mind are a couple of popular TV shows playing these days (“Castle” and “The Mentalist”) where the consultant is far more knowledgeable than his sidekick…Here I found Mary to be the most dim witted person I have ever seen. This partnership is far from being harmonious and since “Paydown” is my introduction I am wondering if the annoying squabbling would last all through the series. Having said this, I nevertheless liked it. The drama is very captivating and the suspense was such that it never slowed down.

For a short story “Paydown” is interested enough to see how this series develops.

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