Thursday, November 7, 2013

Book Hungry Crosses the COUNTY LINE

The Book: COUNTY LINE

The Author: Bill Cameron
The Publisher: Tyrus Books
Publication Date: June 1, 2011
The Book Hungry Biotch who chose this month's selection: Patty

Summary (as jacked from Amazon):

When the steadfast Ruby Jane Whittaker drops out of sight, dogged ex-cop Skin Kadash sets out to discover what drove the woman he loves to leave her life behind so suddenly and without explanation. The discovery of a dead man in her apartment, followed by an attack by a mysterious stalker, leads Skin first to California, then across the country on a desperate journey deep into Ruby Jane’s haunted past--and toward an explosive confrontation which will determine if either has a future.

My Thoughts (from my own brains, jacked by no one but ME):

I am a lover of mysteries.  I love them even more when I'm within fifty pages of THE END and I'm still trying to figure them out.  

COUNTY LINE is one such treasure.

The fourth installment in a series following the perfectly flawed Skin Kadash (pronounced KAY-dish as per the great and powerful Oz himself, Bill Cameron), COUNTY LINE follows Skin as he comes back from a somewhat forced vacation to find the (not-so-requited) love of his life Ruby Jane missing and a dead man in her bathtub.

What follows next is a search that spans miles, time and more than a few broken hearts as we (both Skin and  Peter--not to mention, the reader) learn about the chain events more than twenty years ago that created the Ruby Jane we know today.  Cars disappear only to be found sleeping with the fishes.  Pockets are picked.  Drunks die in spectacularly violent "accidents" while other drunks simply disappear.  Through it all, there is one common link: Ruby Jane.

COUNTY LINE is a carefully woven tale, delving deep into one woman's past while the two men who love her in their own completely different ways work to not only find her but uncover her secrets as well.  There were so many times when I thought I knew what was going to happen only to have Cameron pull the rug out from under me, leaving me dazed, confused and going, "What the f*** just happened here?!?!"  

sidenote: I did know right from the beginning who the dead guy in the tub was and that his "natural" death was not so natural after all...but that was the ONLY thing I knew for certain. The rest I was stumped on.  So, well done, Bill!

I will admit that it did take me a little minute to get into the characters' lives, but I attribute that to the fact that this is the FOURTH book in a well-established series, so sometimes, I felt like I was on the outside of a particularly funny joke I might have "gotten" if I'd read the other books.  But, that just makes me want to go out and pick up the others in the collection just so I can be in the know.

Rating: * * * *

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