‘Bloody Mary’ is absolutely hilarious. It also will be horrific and shocking for those innocents in society oblivious of the minds and activities going on around them by those who are twisted and murderous. For the sensitive in the world, you will never never never get through a book or series like this and you will have nightmares if you attempt more than a couple of pages. Personally, I have never read such a black comedy series as this that somehow maintains a coherent plot and a consistent believability throughout. (Usually dark ridiculousness is played strictly for laughs, puns and sight gags, which tend to break up the story into a series of related skits that may or may not move the story forward.) Also, the author J. A. Konrath has an extremely distinctive writing style as well, sort of a combination of American verbal shorthand referencing cultural cool detachment and detective genre irony. I’m not sure how the humor will translate for readers from different countries. There was an alcoholic in my family, and she had interesting boyfriends due to her desperate need to find men who would finance her addiction. For me, the people Jacqueline Daniels, Chicago Violent Crimes Unit chief detective, and her partner, Detective First Class Herb Benedict, meet during the course of solving murders are not entirely fictional or exaggerated by much.This time, Daniels and her department have an interesting problem. Cook County Morgue needs the assistance of Violent Crimes in identifying a pair of handcuffed arms. Since the morgue deals in bodies and body parts, this is a peculiar request at first - until Phil Blasky, the Chief Medical Examiner, explains no one checked the arms in, and there is no body that the arms match. Even stranger, the handcuffs on the wrists of the arms belong to Jack (Jacqueline).The following dialogue will either have you groaning wryly, or outraged. I think if it strikes you as disgusting or disrespectful, put this book down and move along to the next one in your stack.“”I suspect an axe.” Phil poked at the wound with a gloved finger. “See the mark along the humerus, here? It took two swings to sever the appendage.”“It doesn’t look humorous to me.” Benedict had snuck up behind us.“Funny,” Phil said. “Never heard that one before, working with dead bodies for twenty years. Next will you make some kind of gimme a hand joke?”“I did that one already,” Herb said. “How about: It appears the suspect has been disarmed?”“She was always such a cut-up?”“Would you like a shoulder to cry on?”“Can I go out on a limb here?”“At least she’ll get severance pay?”Phil cocked an eyebrow at Herb.“Severance?” Herb said. “Sever?”I tuned out their act and got a closer look at the arms.””That is how the entire book treats horrible and deadly scenes of extreme pathos, fear, violence and grief, yet the involved characters definitely are serious about finding the bad guys and finding justice for the victims. Despite the comedy, I never thought Daniels or her detectives did not care about the victims or lacked sympathy. Instead, I felt this is how these people handle the dreadful harsh manner of the murders they see every day. My only complaint is the speed by which the cases of this series resolve is VERY quick. Murderers tend to show themselves early in the book and decompensate so fast they are committing murders very recklessly by the midpoint. It does mean the books are a touch breezy and quick, but that makes it a perfect beach read…..as long as extremely graphic mutilations are ok with you.There are chic-lit family problems which lighten the atmosphere between the discovery of tortured or shot bodies - Jack’s mother is at the falling stage of aging, so the question comes up whether mom should move in to Jack’s apartment, and Jack’s ex-husband and new boyfriend end up sparring, and there is an unexpectedly orphaned cat that Jack reluctantly adopts (always a positive to me).I’m interested enough to continue reading the series, and for whatever casual, if black-humored, entertainment that this series is, it’s successful, but I think taking breaks between books is advisable. The murdering maniacs are not the problem, but the otherwise spot-on excellent jokes made me somewhat weary if I read too much at one sitting.
If you thought “Whiskey Sour” was too violent (although this was tame compared to Blake Crouch) or if it was too graphic (seriously? Read Ed Lee if you want to be grossed out), then “Bloody Mary” is most assuredly not the book for you. Like any GOOD sequel, Jack is back, and this time there’s more blood, more gore, and enough action to keep even the most severe cases of ADHD entertained. There’s always that worry about a “Sophomore slump” when it comes to sequels and new books, but that worry should be the furthest thing from anyone’s mind because “Bloody Mary” is not only a solid 2nd book in this series, it’s even better than the first.Like I said, Jack Daniels is back, and better than ever. As is my style, I won’t give away and plot secrets or too many details (that’s why YOU need to READ this), but I will say that the villain in this one is bigger (literally), better, and badder (I know, not really a word) than the Gingerbread Man from “Whiskey”. Jack is better as well. She’s till dealing with her insomnia and personal problems, but like any tweaked protagonist, she’s the anti-hero you can’t help but root for.What also makes “Bloody Mary” better than it’s predecessor is it’s pacing, it’s content, and it’s plot. “Whiskey” had all of those things, no doubt, but with this one, all of those characteristics are better. The writing is the same, but even quicker, as is the content,, although “Bloody Mary” lives up to it’s name in the bodily fluid factor. I enjoyed the plot on “Mary” better because what Konrath presents here, albeit a bit stretched and amped up, can be something totally plausible.Like the first book, “Bloody Mary” will have it’s haters, but as I said in my last review, don’t take soccer-moms and uber-conservative critiques as anything serious. This novel was a powerhouse that is impossible to put down and keeps you wondering until the last second how Konrath will conclude. I cannot wait to read “Rusty Nail” because if these 2 are any indication, Konrath will deliver yet again.
What do You think about Bloody Mary (2006)?
BLOODY MARY (Police Procedural-Chicago-Cont) – G+Konrath, J.A. – 2nd in seriesHyperion, 2005- HardcoverLt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels is called to the morgue because of a body they received with extra body parts. When those parts turn out to be arms wearing handcuffs belonging to Jack, she and her partner, Herb, become involved in the case. Added to the mix are an horrific killer, Jack's ailing mother, two men, a partner on Viagra and an hysterical cat. *** I loved the characters, the dialogue, the interaction between the characters, the pacing and the balance of humor and horrific. Where this book fell short was it's predictability—it was too easy to tell where it was gong before it got there. Still it kept me turning the pages and, at the very last page, wondering what's going to happen to Jack and Herb next. Even through it wasn't as good as the first book, Whiskey Sour, I shall definitely read the next one.
—LJ
tWhen Chicago Police Officer Jacqueline Steng married Alan Daniels, she took his last name and her co-workers began calling her Jack Daniels. Although the marriage didn’t survive, the nickname did. J. A. Konrath uses the whiskey reference for the titles of his mysteries. tIn BLOODY MARY, Lieutenant Daniels and her Detective First Class partner Herb Benedict, are called to the city morgue when some extra body parts were discovered. They did not belong to any of the three hundred bodies stored there. Their tasks are to determine to whom they belonged, where they came from, and how they were transported to the morgue. To complicate the case even more, some of them include property belonging to Jack, such as an earring and handcuffs. They quickly determine the killer was probably a police officer and are forced to alter their usual investigative technique to avoid alerting suspects.tSeveral chapters tell the story from the murderer’s perspective: why he kills as well as details about his methods. He is eventually captured and brought to trial, but his familiarity with the legal system makes it difficult to prosecute him and creates an interesting twist to the story.tKonrath employs humorous conversations and situations throughout the story. The comments regarding the two arms originally discovered are a punsters dream/nightmare.tSubplots include Jack’s mother, Mary, who lived in Florida, fell and broke her hip, and is very reluctant to have Jack help her with her rehabilitation and living arrangements. As a friend of Mary’s explains, “We can’t hold on to our health. It’s impossible. But we try like mad to hold on to our dignity.” Jack replies, “I just want my mom to be safe. Dignity doesn’t matter.” The friend responds, “...Once dignity is gone, the will to live isn’t far behind.”tMary also manages to bring Jack’s husband into the story which complicates Jack’s relationship with her current beau, Latham.ttWhile the book had some great word visualizations (“Out on Lake Michigan, hundreds of boats competed for space. It looked as if someone sprinkled some kosher salt on a gigantic polished mirror.), it also gave some vivid pictures of the thinking of a psychopath, more than I felt comfortable reading. For future books, I’ll skim those sections but I will read others in the series.tThis book was a free Amazon download.
—Judie
I just blew through this in about 2 hours. Some points that I would like to make:1) In these Kindle editions, the author has added a brief foreward talking about what his goals were for the novel and the series. The note in this volume seriously ticked me off. First of all, he starts off saying how he wanted to try out (view spoiler)["adding a huge twist" to the plotline..... which completely ruined the twist itself (hide spoiler)]
—Julie
