Bombshell - Mike Faricy

    2012; 258 pages.  Book 4 (out of 29) in the “Dev Haskell – Private Investigator” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres: Pulp Thriller; Hard-Boiled Mystery; Private Investigator Mystery.  Overall Rating : 7*/10.

 

    Somebody has been giving Harlotte Davidson, crowd favorite on the English women’s roller derby team, the Hastings Hustlers, the finger.  As in the middle finger.  Middle fingers, actually.  Four of them so far.  Severed human fingers.  Creepy.

 

    The Hastings Hustlers are currently on a US tour, and everyone’s on edge since those fingers were delivered, one apiece, at the last four stops along the way.  Their next match is against the Bombshells, the local roller derby team in Private Investigator Dev Haskell’s hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota.  Dev’s really excited about the Bombshells.

 

    Mostly he’s excited about one of the Bombshells, Justine, aka “Spankie”.  When she mentions that the Hustlers might be interested in some extra security for the St. Paul bout, Dev has an opportunity to mix business with pleasure, and maybe even catch the wacko with the middle finger fetish.

 

    Just where in the world does one go to procure a bunch of middle fingers?  I don’t think Amazon sells them.

 

What’s To Like...

    Bombshell is the fourth installment in Mike Faricy’s signature “Dev Haskell – Private Investigator” series, which is now up to 29 books.  I’m reading them in order, mostly because I have the bundled version of the first seven books.

 

    There’s really only one main storyline: what’s with the fingers, although that branches off into a.) who’s doing it, b.) where’s he getting the fingers from (there are no corpses popping up with missing middle fingers), and c.) what kind of sicko message is the perpetrator trying to convey?

 

    The story is told in the first-person POV, which I’m pretty sure is true for the entire series.  The chapters are short: 51 of them, averaging about 5 pages apiece.  There’s lots of action, and the pacing is rapid.  My favorite side character, Louie Laufen (Dev’s lawyer) gets plenty of ink here, and I get the impression he’s going to show up a lot more in the series, since Dev makes a habit of running afoul of the St. Paul Police Department.  I liked how the relationship between Dev and Detective Manning is developing.  Neither one likes the other, but they’re gradually learning to grudgingly respect each one’s abilities.

 

    Full disclosure: there’s not a lot of roller derby action involved and there seemed to be less attention than usual devoted to Dev’s romantic pursuits.  He still scores several times, but strikes out a lot as well.  There are a bunch neat musical references, with special praise given to Lionel Richie (positive) and Leonard Cohen (negative).  But Ozzy’s last name of misspelled (it’s “Osbourne”, not “Osborn”) which is absolutely unforgiveable.  I’m proud to say I guessed the identity of the perp very early on, even though this isn’t really a whodunit.

 

    The ending is contrived, over-the-top, and eminently entertaining.  Several WTF’s are employed, which will not be detailed since they’d be spoilers.  The main plot thread is resolved with six chapters still to go, but there was a “hidden” plotline lurking in the tale, which gets resolved after the finger-sender has been apprehended.  The book closes with a LOL exchange between Dev and Detective Manning.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.0/5 based on 345 ratings.

    Goodreads: 3.69/5 based on 798 ratings and 75 reviews

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Gobshite (n.) : a stupid and incompetent person (Irish slang).

Others: Tosser (n., British slang); Plonker (n., also British slang)

 

Excerpts...

    In the past thirty minutes I’d been joined by Louie Laufen, my lawyer.  I was still handcuffed, although the cuffs were no longer behind my back.

    “Oh, God,” Louie half burped, then screwed the top back onto a blue plastic Maalox bottle.  “I don’t know what I ate last night.”

    “A bottle of Jim Beam from the smell of that burp,” I said.  (loc. 12216)

 

    “Look, to be honest I tried to get tickets to Lionel, but they were sold out,” I lied.

    “Oh, really?”

    “Yeah, honest,” I said, then leaned back and contentedly sipped my beer, feeling I was in safe territory.

    “So, the fact that you’re involved in this roller derby murder, and working with the police, that doesn’t have a damn thing to do with us being here.  Is that right?”

    I sat forward and choked on a mouthful of beer.  If I felt around, I’d probably detect the thin ice I was suddenly on.  (loc. 13448)

 

Kindle Details…

    Bombshell is priced at $3.99 at Amazon right now, as are all the other books in this series, with the exception of Book 28, The Big Gamble, which is discounted to $2.99.  You can also buy the first seven books bundled together for $9.99, which is quite the savings.  Mike Faricy has several other series for your Kindle, and most if not all of those books go for either $2.99 or $3.99.

 

“How the hell could someone have access to a steady supply of fingers?”  (loc. 12017)

    Most of the nitpicking has already been noted: the WTF’s in the ending, the mangling of Sir Ozzy’s last name, and the rolls-in-the-hay, a staple of this series, and which seem to offend some readers.  The cussing is not excessive – I counted only 13 cases in the first 20% of the book – and the one use of the epithet “douche bag” made me chuckle.

 

    The main problem, as several Goodreads reviewers also noted, is the abundance of typos and grammar misusage.  “Osborn/Osbourne” is just the tip of the iceberg.  Commas are abused, as are apostrophes, and compound words such as raincoat, hairbrush, handcuffed, and fundraising, are habitually separated into two words.  Some of the more humorous slipups were snuggly/snugly, pricy/pricey, and complacency/complicity.

 

    There’s no arguing that these grammar gaffes distract, but I think awarding a one-star rating because of them, as some Goodreads reviewers did,  is excessive.  I recognize that most indie authors double as their own editors, which is inherently ineffective, but getting a couple of volunteers to proofread the manuscript should be cheap (a free copy of the book) and easy (just read it and record any errors).

 

    7 Stars.  Please keep in mind that the focus in these Dev Haskell books is on Dev's humor-filled and action-packed misadventures, both as a PI and a ladies’ man.  As such, it does not include a clever and tightly-constructed mystery.  To steal a quote from another reviewer, “check your brain at the door, and enjoy the ride”.  I did.