Fuzzy Navel - J.A. Konrath

    2008; 250 pages.  Book 5 (out of 11) in the Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels series.  New Author? : No.  Genre : Thriller; Crime Fiction; Women Sleuths.  Overall Rating : 8*/10.

    It’s inevitable:  if you’re a cop, you’re bound to make some pretty nasty enemies along the way.

    Sometimes you make them simply by being at the scene of a crime, when one or more of the perpetrators realize you’ve seen their faces and can identify them in a police line-up.  More often, some criminal you’ve helped put in jail comes back after you, seeking revenge.

    Chicago police lieutenant Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels is doubly blessed.  She’s recently made enemies from each of those two categories, and they’re coming after her.  It goes with the job, and it’s not the first time this has happened to her.  She’s dealt with it before.  But this time, there’s a new, unprecedented aspect to it.

    Both sets of killers have shown up on her doorstep.  At the same time.

What’s To Like...

    Fuzzy Navel is a vintage J.A. Konrath thriller: non-stop action from the get-go that’s just a wee bit over-the-top, crazed psychopathic killers, a gritty policewoman protagonist, and lots of witty banter between her and everyone she's around. 

    There’s a fascinating Author’s Introduction at the start of the book, wherein J.A. Konrath gives the reader some insight about his planning of the story.  He deliberately wrote it in “real time”.  He estimated it would take the average reader about 8 hours to read the book, and the chapters are labeled by which character will have the spotlight therein and exactly what time the chapter begins.  Taken together, those chapters encompass about 8 hours.  Konrath wanted the protagonists trapped in a remote house and ducking snipers’ bullets; and to make this happen he purposely had Jack move in with her mother in the previous book.

    There are two parts to the plotline: a.) a crazy killer seeking revenge for an earlier encounter with Jack; and b.) a group called The Urban Hunting Club, who start out shooting porn-watching perverts and end up taking on the cops instead.  These are not spoilers; this all gets established early in the story.  Konrath’s twist is having the threads converge on Jack’s house at the same time, causing mayhem for all concerned.

    I liked J.A. Konrath’s tastes in music: Jim Croce, John Denver, Keith Richards (with the obligatory Keith Richards joke), and one of my personal faves, The Kingston Trio.  I also liked that the two biggest and bad-assiest characters were both females.  The titular cocktail drink name gets worked into the story about halfway through, but really it’s just there because all the titles in this series reference mixed drinks.  Finally, if you’re a gun enthusiast, you’ll find lots of details about the weapons used here, the pros and cons of various scopes, and which types of ammo work best in which situations.

    The storytelling is a curious blend of 1^st-person and 3^rd-person.  The former is reserved for our two protagonists, and the latter for everyone else.  There are 74 chapters if I counted right (they aren't numbered), of varying lengths depending on what’s going down at that moment, and averaging out to about 3 pages per chapter.

    The ending is suitably climactic and exciting.  J.A. Konrath calls it a cliffhanger, and I hate cliffhangers, but actually it’s a teaser for the next book, where our two combatants apparently will go another round and we’ll find out who got shot at the hospital.  Both main story threads here are resolved, so I can call this a standalone story in good conscience.

Excerpts...

    Another bullet hits the fridge, a few inches above his head.  I consider crawling down the hall, back into the kitchen, but that would leave Harry stranded in the hallway, an open target.

    “Run, Jack!”

    I can’t believe it.  Harry isn’t the heroic, self-sacrificing type.

    “Run in front of the bullets!” he yells.  “Shield me!”  (loc. 5519.  Note: location numbers are relative to the bundled version of this trilogy, which is the format in which I read this book.)

    “Push me up with your hand,” I say.  Then I add, “Your real one.”

    The aforementioned hand lands softly on my ass, and he squeezes.  I freeze up.

    “McGlade, there is so much wrong with what you’re doing right now.”

    “I’m not enjoying it either, Jackie.  You’re not exactly heroin chic.”

    Fighting words.  “Are you saying I’m fat?”

    “No.  Of course not.  You’re … what’s the opposite of anorexic?”  (loc. 7108)

Kindle Details...

    Fuzzy Navel presently sells for $4.99 at Amazon.  The other ten e-books in the series vary in price from $3.99 to $5.99.  J.A. Konrath offers a number of other e-thrillers, and most of them seem to be in a similar price range, with a couple as low as $2.99.  I read Fuzzy Navel as part of a bundle of Books 4, 5, and 6, and right now it goes for $9.99.  J.A. Konrath generously and frequently discounts his books and bundles, and it is not unusual to see them offered for free.

“There’s blood in the water, and the sharks are circling the wagons.”  (loc. 5351)

    I went on a Jack Daniels kick in 2008-09 by reading the first four books within a year or so, and in their proper order.  After that, I didn’t read any more of the series until now.  I’m not sure why; I suspect it was a “so many books, so little time” thing.  The only two characters I remembered were Jacqueline and her police ex-partner, Harry McGlade.

    I didn’t feel like my enjoyment of Fuzzy Navel suffered from the 9-year layoff, and I get the impression you can read these stories in any order and not lose much of the overall storyline.  So the next time you see one of J.A. Konrath’s “Jack Daniels” e-books discounted at Amazon, my recommendation is to snatch it up and give him a try.

        8 Stars.  Bottom line, any J.A. Konrath book is about as low-brow is you can get, and I mean that in the most-positive way.  Fuzzy Navel was a fast, fun, and easy read.  The author has carved out his own little niche in the thriller genre, and I for one am happy he did.